Yemen is facing a severe and escalating natural disaster as torrential rainfall during the second rainy season triggers destructive flash floods across multiple governorates, while limited resources and damaged infrastructure are constraining response and recovery for displaced and conflict-affected communities, according to latest update by SARI Global.
The update added that Yemen combines high exposure to short, intense storms with very low adaptive capacity, while 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.
The update noticed that major incidents have been reported across several areas in Yemen. In Aden’s peripheral neighborhoods, 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 internally displaced people (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.
SARI Global advises humanitarian and development agencies in Yemen to adopt a lean, operational monitoring package that pairs near-real-time satellite updates with quick field confirmation, governorate- level and district-level rollups, and exposure overlays for road crossings, wells, schools, clinics, and IDP sites, augmented by multi-year flood-susceptibility baselines and micro-drainage maps for camp planning. To keep people and supply lines moving, we also recommend a road-safety tracker for inter- governorate travel: a maintained watch list of wadi crossings and low-lying segments, risk flags 12–24 hours ahead of forecast peaks, and rapid open/closed status updates after storms to support routing decisions.
In parallel, prioritize building-safety checks in low-lying, high-risk areas, rapid structural and electrical inspections of schools, clinics, markets, water points, and site perimeters, so flood proofing and temporary protections can be deployed before the next storm cycle.