Floods cause more victims and property damage [Archives:2007/1075/Local News]

By: Sadam Al-Ashmori
For Yemen Times
SANA'A, Aug 8 ) There is a situation of worry and anxiety that overwhelm citizens inhabited the areas near flood drains in the capital city of Sana'a as well as other governorates due to the lack of rescue teams.

This fear came as a result of the floods caused by heavy rains, leading to cars wash-away, traffic jams, as well as the destruction of a number of households. Local news reports also revealed that most of the victims were children.

Though the Civil Defense Official, Naji Abdua Al-qhwa, confirmed that rescue teams, belonged to the civil defense, dispersed in most of the areas of the capital city of Sana'a such as Al-Rawdha, Shuo'b, Bab Al-Yemen, and Al-Salal Roundabout, that belongs to Bani Al-Harith district, to carry out rescue operations so as to take citizens out of the disadvantaged areas, he warned citizens as well as car drivers to take ultimate care when they reach those places, which make their lives in jeopardy.

He also confirmed the wash-away of one car in the main watercourse in the capital city of Sana'a. However, the official stressed the necessity of early alarming sirens to avoid the frequent damages in lives and properties especially when rains fall on the edges of the southern and eastern areas of the capital city of Sana'a. The floods may take the passages of the Old city of Sana'a watercourse as a usual road, he cautioned, adding that the issue of alarming sirens has been discussed but not adjudicated yet.

A local source indicated that Waleed Al-Thamari, the director of the economic corporation branch in Manakha city, in Sana'a governorate, was one of the three washed-away persons in the watercourse. He was washed away along with his car to a far distance while passing that area.

An eye-witness affirmed that four cars were washed away and four archeological houses were destroyed in the Old City of Sana'a. He also indicated that water ran into them with a large quantity but was taken out from houses by nozzles, indicating that the repetition of water submersion for the foundations of those houses threatens their future. However, the operations theatre in the Ministry of Interior did not receive any notifications regarding human victims inside the capital city of Sana'a, a local source commented.

In Amran governorate, north of Sana'a, eye-witnesses told the Yemen-times that four children among them three females died in Qa' Al-Bawn after the collapse of their houses due to the heavy rains fallen in their area.

The Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority had warned, in a statement, the citizens to take precautions and avoid flood areas during Sunday and Monday because of the fall of heavy rains accompanied by thunder in most of the governorates including Sana'a, Thamar, Taiz, Ibb, Al-Mahwait, and Syu'n.

Similarly, a number of governorates of the Republic experienced heavy rains resulting in injuring a number of citizens and causing sever damages in properties and lands.

The floods washed away a child, namely Ateeqah Sa'eed Al-Abadi, from A'maha area in the district of Lahj governorate and her destiny is unknown. A number of citizens were distributed over areas searching for the missing girl, Ateeqah.

However, local sources in Al-Radma district in Ibb governorate affirmed that the heavy rains fallen on several areas resulted in destroying households and caused sever damages in the livestock as well as properties.

A large quantity of hailstones fallen on some villages remained piled up for two days in the tops of mountains, deeming it a disaster for the area's citizens, a local source indicated.

Worth-noting, a little girl in the fifth class was dead after being washed away by floods. And another one was seriously injured in the last few days while coming back from the summer center in Al-Radhma city to her houses via Al-Kharaba road in Amar.

September-net reported from sources in the Interior Ministry that heavy rains and thunderbolts, accompanying the rains fallen on the country, resulted in killing and injuring a number of people in some governorates reaching to 17 persons in the first week of August, 17 of whom are dead due to rock slides over their houses, seven injured by thunderbolts, and two others were washed away by floods. In addition, four children were dead due to the slide of their house caused by heavy rains.

Earlier this week, the National Coordinator of Disasters Restriction, Abdulkhaleq Al-Ghaberi warned that many rural areas may be under direct risk due to constant rain.

He specified that the Qaflat Al-Sawanah village might face a natural disaster at any moment, stating, “The village's current situation is alerted by an expected disaster.” “That is because of being under big rock clusters, which become breakable and might fall, due to different denudation factors” he clarified.

Additionally, he pinpointed that more than 15 houses are faced with this danger and in need of immediate assistance to avoid any possible damages, especially during heavy rainfall and rock sliding.

Al-Ghaberi emphasized the speed needed in handling the serious condition of the village in order to avoid a repeat of what happened in Al-Dhafir's disaster in Bani Matar, located in Shahara district, with a population of more than 1,000.

Retrospectively, Al-Dhafir village was destroyed in December, 2005, when a mountaintop landslide hit more than 23 houses, sixteen of which were inhabited at the time of the avalanche, resulting in death toll of 65 and eight injured.

Al-Ghaberi indicated that there are three options for saving the people of the village. The first is sending a specialized team to determine the extent of rock cohesion and the possibility of collapse, as well as evacuating the houses, which are under the crushed rock, and providing emergency residences for displaced citizens.

The second choice is fragmentizing the rocks through scientific methods without any damage to the houses. The third option, according to Al-Ghaberi, is constructing belts to catch the rocks. But, he confirmed that the latter option would be temporary and the problem would arise again in the future.
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