Heavy rainfall leaves 40 dead in Yemen

Flooding in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, April 2012 Sanaa – Ali Rabea At least forty people were killed in Yemen on Friday following heavy rain in different parts of the ?country, local and security sources reported on Saturday.? Lightning strikes left nine dead and six injured in Taiz, Ibb, Hajjah, Dhamar, Saada and Amran.? The Yemeni Interior Ministry said one ?person was killed and three others struck by lightning in al-Arous in the south-western Taiz province, while a landslide in Mashraa province destroyed two classrooms in the al-Nahda School.? Four people were killed by lightning bolts, in al-Faraa ?in Ibb and Meftah and Kehlan al-Sharaf in Hajjah. A further four were killed and three struck by lightning during heavy rain over Addouran in Dhamar and Saada, Sauda and Amran.? A local source in Taiz city said 27 people in a wedding convoy fell victim to intense rainfall in Wadi Nakhla in Sharhab al-Rouna province. The source added that a lightning bolt killed a soldier from the 35th Brigade and injured two others in al-Arous in Jabal Sabr, while heavy rainfall in Maweya, ?Mashraa, Hadnan, Jabal Habashi, and Maqbna lead to road closures, the destruction of two houses and some farmland being washed away.?