14 in Yemen’s flood-hit Aden

ADEN: Fourteen people, including at least five children, have been killed and dozens injured in flash floods in Yemen´s second city Aden, authorities said Wednesday, amid submerged streets and destroyed homes.

The deaths take the national toll to at least 21 after the United Nations said that seven other people were killed by flooding in the north, where the country´s long conflict between the government and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels continues. Deputy Prime Minister Salem al-Khanbashi told AFP that “men, women and children” were among the 14 dead in Aden, where “flooding also caused streets to shut down in most neighbourhoods”. He added that sanitation infrastructure had been severely damaged and called for urgent aid to combat the spread of diseases, “especially cholera and other deadly viral infections”. A government official told AFP at least 10 homes were destroyed and 90 others severely damaged. The flooding compounds the country´s troubles, as it struggles to fend off water-borne diseases and braces for the spread of the novel coronavirus, after recording one case so far. Oxfam said on Wednesday that it was “extremely worried” about the recent storms, which have also hit other provinces across the country.