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Yemen is facing a severe and escalating natural disaster as torrential rainfall during the second rainy season triggers destructive flash floods across multiple governorates. The emergency compounds the effects of protracted conflict, degraded services, and strained institutions. Limited resources and damaged infrastructure are constraining response and recovery for displaced and conflict-affected communities.
Background and Context
Yemen combines high exposure to short, intense storms with very low adaptive capacity. Wadi systems that ordinarily carry seasonal runoff are repeatedly overwhelmed, while urban drainage remains blocked or undersized. Conflict has eroded the reliability of roads, culverts, water and sanitation networks, and health facilities, increasing the likelihood that a single storm cuts access, contaminates water sources, and destabilizes shelter. Unplanned expansion into floodplains and on steep slopes has widened exposure. Climate variability, altered timing and intensity of rains, has increased the frequency of backto-back events that exceed both natural and engineered drainage capacity.
Overview of Damage and Fatalities
Major incidents have been reported across several regions. In Aden’s peripheral neighbourhoods, injuries and extensive property damage followed rapid ponding and drainage failures. In Hajjah, a house collapse in Al-Khadraa killed three children, and dozens of makeshift shelters for IDPs were destroyed in Abs district. Shabwah and Hadramawt recorded multiple deaths within 48 hours during peak rains, with roads cut and villages isolated. In Marib, more than 6,700 shelters were destroyed and over 8,400 displaced families left homeless; secondary displacement continues. Valleys such as Sardud, Zabid, Rima, and Haradh remain high-risk corridors where steep terrain focuses runoff toward the coastal plain, increasing the likelihood of flash flooding and landslides.