ADEN: A severe storm in southern Yemen blew through the glass facade of a major airport on Monday, injuring 6 passengers, damaging planes and forcing airlines to cancel 2 flights, officials said.
The unfortunate incident coincided with torrential rainfall and gushing winds as the summer monsoon season exposed the climate-vulnerable Yeemn to flash floods and severe precipitation.
At least 4 children were among the 6 people injured when a glass facade at an airport terminal collapsed because of the storm early Monday, said an airport official, according to AFP.
Two flights, one to the to Egypt’s capital Cairo and the other to the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah were consequently canceled, the airport official added, who requested not to be named.
Abdul Raqeeb Al-Omari, airport director, said that the storm also damaged two planes and collapsed some of the walls surrounding the Aden facility.
The University of Notre Dame’s Global Adaptation Initiative (GAI) ranks Yemen as one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the region.
Summertime rainfall in Yemen
In recent years, the country has witnessed a surge in the frequency and intensity of summertime rainfall because of climate change.
The Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation has been hit by 6 cyclones in the past 6 years, up from four in the preceding twenty five years, as per a May report by the Norwegian Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Yemen, already grappling with a devastating 8-year-long conflict, also experienced heavy flooding in 2019, 2020 and 2021, the report added.
