Yemen: Aden declares Al-Buraiqeh a disaster area due to devastating floods.

Arab Sea Newspaper - Special

Arab Sea_Alaa Bader The local authority in the capital, Aden, has issued an urgent appeal for assistance to all concerned parties and local and international humanitarian organizations to intervene immediately following the humanitarian disaster that the Al-Haswa area in the Al-Buraiqa district has witnessed since dawn on Saturday, as a result of the depression that struck Aden and neighboring governorates, declaring Al-Buraiqa a disaster area. It confirmed that the heavy rains and floods coming from Lahj Governorate towards the Al-Haswa coast have caused widespread destruction and heavy damage to lives and property, including the complete destruction of dozens of homes, partial damage to hundreds of homes, the loss of all basic possessions of dozens of families, including shelter, food, and clothing, the siege of hundreds of families inside their homes in the Al-Haswa area, and dozens of families stranded in the city of Inma due to road closures, and the recording of deaths and injuries due to sudden collapses, drowning, and floods sweeping away property, including cars and buses, damage to infrastructure, complete closure of the main road leading to the district, and the entry of rainwater, sometimes mixed with sewage, into some homes. The director of the district, Dr. Salah Al-Shoubaji, who survived with his companions while rescuing a citizen swept away by the floods in the Great Valley, explained that the current situation is catastrophic and out of control, and is worsening with the continued flow of floods until the moment the statement was prepared, calling for urgent intervention to provide assistance and protect the affected residents. In the same context, the National Center for Meteorology and Early Warning expected continued rainfall of varying intensity accompanied by thunderstorms in several governorates during the next 24 hours. The center said in its weather bulletin that varying intensity rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and sometimes hail is expected on the western coasts and the Tihama Plain from Hajjah in the north to Taiz in the south. It also expected rainfall on the western mountain ranges and the interior plateaus, including the governorates of Saada, Hajjah, Al-Mahwit, Amran, Sana'a, Dhamar, Rima, Ibb, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhalea, Taiz, and Lahj, in addition to the southern coasts and the adjacent interior regions, as well as the governorates of Al-Jawf, Marib, Shabwa, Hadramout, and Al-Mahra. The center warned citizens against being in the valleys and flood streams, and from thunderstorms, strong downdrafts, hail, soil erosion, and rockslides. The center warned of low horizontal visibility on roads and mountain heights due to the density of clouds and rain and the formation of fog or mist. It called on citizens to follow safety procedures to prevent thunderstorms, stay away from unstable slopes, and called on the relevant authorities to take the necessary precautionary measures to preserve lives and property. Yesterday, the body of citizen Sami Muhammad Saeed Ahmed, who was swept away by the floods that flowed the day before yesterday in the Al-Haswa area of the Al-Buraiqa district of Aden, was recovered. Captain Asim bin Qannan, security officer at the Inma Police Station, stated: "The body was spotted yesterday evening, Sunday, before the Maghrib prayer, on the Al-Haswa coast next to the Al-Qasr Hotel. We went down to the location of the report, retrieved the body from the sea, brought it to the station, and contacted the family of the missing person to identify the body. He was identified by his family. The drowned person lives in Al-Shaab City (displaced persons camp) in the Al-Buraiqa district and is named Sami Muhammad Saeed Ahmed." The body was transferred to the refrigerator of Al-Jumhuriya Hospital to complete the legal procedures, and then the body will be handed over to the relatives of the drowned person. The "Al-Ayyam" correspondent from the field covers the sad aspect of the Al-Haswa flood disaster in the Al-Buraiqa district. Lost, displaced, affected, missing, hungry, and thirsty, as well as deaths and injuries as a result of sudden collapses and drowning... Those moments were experienced by many people on the longest day that passed over the capital, Aden, and its impact was and still is difficult to describe for those whose homes were destroyed as a result of the arrival of the depression to Aden on the morning of Saturday, August 23, 2025, which had been a source of concern and terror for the city's residents for a full week. Followers took their places in front of their phone and television screens to watch the work done by all sectors, whether governmental, private, or community, to save what could be saved and help those affected. Entire neighborhoods were damaged in the Al-Buraiqa district, west of Aden, due to heavy rains that the city has not witnessed in four decades, and for the first time in years, a local authority announces that its district has become a disaster area. In a first of its kind, the local council of the Al-Buraiqa district appealed to United Nations organizations, humanitarian and international institutions, and donor and supporting parties to intervene urgently and immediately to provide assistance. Families lost their way as they fled from their homes, which were buried by dirt and flooded by floods, so they walked on the roads in search of shelter. One of them says, "I was driving my car near the affected neighborhoods, and I saw a woman with her two daughters walking at a fast pace, and they were very worried and tense. When I approached them and expressed my willingness to provide shelter for them, they seemed shy and hesitant, so I left in shame. I don't know how to help them in that difficult situation." The heavy rains and torrential floods coming from Lahj Governorate towards the capital, Aden, reached various parts of the Al-Haswa area and caused widespread destruction and heavy damage to lives and public and private property, causing the total destruction of dozens of homes and partial damage to hundreds of other homes, in addition to the fact that hundreds of families lost shelter, clothing, and basic possessions and became without food or drink, and hundreds of families were trapped inside their homes, as water flooded other homes, and even in the residential city of Inma, a number of residents were stranded after the main road between it and Al-Haswa was cut off. The Al-Haswa floods also swept away citizens' cars and buses, and caused serious damage to the infrastructure. What made matters worse was that rainwater flooded the areas and streets, mixing with sewage and entering as an unwelcome guest in some people's homes. The residents of the disaster-stricken Al-Buraiqa are in need of emergency shelter specifically for those affected, mattresses and basic supplies, food for poor families, and logistical and relief support to support rescue and evacuation teams, and to provide mechanisms and suction pumps to drain stagnant water to prevent it from turning into hotbeds for epidemics and diseases. The local council of Al-Buraiqa acknowledged that the accelerating humanitarian disaster exceeds its ability to respond or intervene effectively, reminding that saving lives and alleviating the size of the humanitarian tragedy has become a duty that cannot be postponed. On the other hand, efforts are continuing to rescue and aid people, secure the course of floods, pump water, remove waste, and assess damage to lives and property, under the follow-up of the Director General of the Al-Buraiqa District, Salah Yahya Al-Shoubaji, and the supervision of the Minister of State, Governor of the Capital, Aden, Professor Ahmed Hamed Lamlas. In the village of Faqam, located on the outskirts of Al-Buraiqa from the west, three houses collapsed and more than fifty houses were completely submerged with their contents, while the water surrounded the Hashed neighborhood, and the main electricity transformer, which became surrounded by a sea of water, was also damaged. In a related matter, the Director General of the Al-Buraiqa District directed the Director of the Education Office in the district to open schools for displaced families. According to the statement of the Director of the Ministry of Education Office in the Al-Buraiqa District, Fahd Al-Dhanba, a quick and immediate response was made to the order and a number of families were hosted in schools: Al-Jawhari School in Al-Haswa, Al-Shaab Secondary School, Omar bin Abdulaziz School, and Kuwait Secondary School in the Abu Harba area. The Sunna' al-Najah Private School, located in the old city of Inma, also announced the opening of its doors to families affected by the floods in the Al-Haswa area, while the Al-Minhaj Private School in the ninth phase of the Inma area expressed its readiness to shelter those affected by the depression that struck Al-Haswa. In a youth initiative expressing the strength of social cohesion in times of adversity, a group of young people visited Al-Jawhari School in Al-Haswa after learning that the residents there lacked drinking water and that it was also absent in the bathrooms, as it was inhabited by (45) families. They provided food and brought water to the school. Later, the number of families living in the school decreased after their relatives confined them and took them to their homes in other districts, leaving 15 families in the school, most of whom are women and children.