Saudis send Yemen $100mn in aid as flood toll rises

RUINED LIVES: A Yemeni man and boy walk on the rubble of their home in the historical city of Shibam. (AFP)

Saudi Arabia has sent $100 million in aid to Yemen in the wake of flooding that killed scores of people, President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced on Tuesday, the offical Saba news agency reported.

Saleh thanked Saudi King Abdullah in a telephone call, saying it would help the Yemeni authorities "cope with the aftermath of these catastrophic floods," the agency said.

In addition to the cash, Saleh said the Saudis had also sent food and medicines for people in the affected areas.

"The people of Yemen will never forget this laudable and fraternal help" from their oil-rich northern Gulf neighbour, Saba added.

Saleh, whose country is one of the most impoverished in the world, decided on Sunday to allocate $100 million dollars in aid for victims of more than two days of deadly flooding.

The UN refugee agency, citing government figures, said on Tuesday that 180 people died in the floods, which also forced more than 10,000 people to flee their homes.

The deputy prime minister for local government affairs, Sadek Amin Abu Ras, said in Sanaa on Tuesday that the confirmed death toll was 90.

That number "was established on Monday night at 90 people drowned in floods or under the rubble of their homes," said Abu Ras, who heads a rescue commission.

"We did not recorded any deaths on Tuesday," he added.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Ron Redmond said in Geneva that the higher toll was provided by Sanaa on Monday, but cautioned that "these figures cannot be confirmed as several areas remain inaccessible."

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said its latest figures put the death toll at 69, with 1,700 houses destroyed or damaged and infrastructure left in tatters.

The UNHCR said it had already sent 11 trucks to the affected areas carrying non-food items to 3,500 people, such as mattresses, blankets, jerry cans and mosquito nets.

The World Health Organisation, meanwhile, said it was sending medicines and other supplies to treat more than 50,000 people for conditions such as diarrhoea and malaria.

The United Arab Emirates and Oman have also sent material aid such as tents and foodstuffs.

Most of the victims died in flooding fed by torrential downpours that swept across Hadramaut and Mahara provinces on Thursday and Friday.

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