28 Oct 2008 15:10:18 GMT
Source: Reuters

GENEVA, Oct 28 (Reuters) - About 180 people have died or are missing
after severe floods following torrential rain in Yemen that have left
more than 10,000 people homeless, United Nations agencies said on Tuesday.

The U.N. refugees agency UNHCR, which is already in the country working
with refugees and asylum-seekers who have fled across the Gulf of Aden
to Yemen from Somalia, said it was working to help Yemenis hurt by the
disaster.

About 2,000 houses have been destroyed or damaged and power lines,
roads, phone lines and water supplies have been wrecked, the Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

Neighbouring Saudi Arabia has pledged $100 million in aid to the flood
victims, Yemen's media quoted Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh as
saying on Tuesday.

Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world and its government is
grappling with a rebellion in the north, unrest in the south and a
resurgence of al Qaeda, while a growing number of Somali refugees
stretch its resources to the limit.

Situated at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen is prone to
flooding during the monsoon season.

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