Heavy Rains Bring Havoc [Archives:1998/31/Front Page]

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August 3 1998

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It has been raining cats and dogs, as the saying goes. The rains were followed by major casualties.
“From Kilometer 64 to kilometer 160 on the highway between Sanaa and Hodeidah, total damage is estimated at YR 350 million,” said Engineer Abdul-Wali Mughallis, Director-General of Road Maintenance at the Highway Authority.
“In Haraz area, five persons were killed as their homes collapsed on them. Also in the same area, mountainside mud-slides destroyed large areas of farms and thousands of coffee trees,” he added.
On the Sanaa-Taiz highway major boulders fell off the mountain sides blocking the road. In one point at Yaslih, some 60 kilometers south of Sanaa, workers have been chipping away on a giant boulder that is 30 meters wide.
Flash floods have menaced such areas as Bani Matar, Al-Haimatain, Mahweet, Raimah, Utuma, Wusab, Raimah, Al-Udain, and other parts of Taiz, Dhale and Lahej governorates.
Large numbers of heavy trucks carrying imported goods from Hodeidah to Sanaa and other parts of the highlands have been stranded at Al-Qadam area, some 80 kilometers east of Hodeidah.
Unfortunately, a thirsty country like Yemen is not even able to avail itself of the rainwater, as it has not prepared itself for a rainy day. More on Local News
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