Flash flooding leaves at least 9 dead in Yemen

Heavy seasonal rains drove flash floods through Yemen and left at least nine people dead, official media reported Sunday. Four children were killed in a building collapse while another six people died when their car was swept away by floods in a district near Sanaa, according to officials.

Heavy rains cause devastating flooding in Yemen each year and the latest torrents have been building up over the past week. Traffic in the city, controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi militia fighting the internationally-recognized government, has come to a near standstill.

A three-story building in Sanaa’s historic district collapsed killing four children inside, a doctor at the city’s Republican Hospital told AFP. Floods swept away a car on a road in Dhamar governorate south of Sanaa killing the driver and five passengers, Nashwan al-Samawi, head of emergency operations in the governorate, told the Saba news agency.

Conflict since 2014 between the Houthis and government forces has left hundreds of thousands dead in fighting or through illness and malnutrition. There has been a truce since April.