At least 33 people have been killed in Yemen due to heavy rains and landslides in the city of Al Mahwit, about 115 kilometers west of the capital Sanaa, a representative of the governorate of the same name told the Yemeni news agency Saba. The search is still underway for an unknown number of missing people.

At least 28 homes were destroyed. Due to the lack of access to roads, rescuers had difficulty reaching the victims. People who managed to escape the natural disaster were accommodated in emergency shelters. There they receive food and first aid.

Local residents reported that several dams had collapsed. It was later determined that these were small flood defences rather than large dams.

According to the representative, there were only landslides, but locals reported that roads were impassable due to the water. Several cars were swept away.

Yemen has been experiencing heavy rains for weeks. According to the Islamic Red Crescent, at least 340,000 people have been affected by the storm that hit several provinces.

The poorest country in the Arab region, which was already facing an emergency due to, among other things, a long-running civil war, is now struggling to maintain food supplies.

Yemen experiences heavy rains every summer, leading to flooding. According to the Associated Press, there are signs that the country is experiencing increasingly severe weather due to climate change.

In a report published earlier this year, the Red Crescent expects Yemen to generally see less rainfall in the future, but flooding will become more severe during the rainy season.

The rainy season begins around the end of March. Heavy rains fall annually from July to mid-August. The World Health Organization said this week that Yemenis are “disproportionately affected by climate change due to their limited resources and weak infrastructure.”