Tropical Cyclone Tej in Yemen: Two Dead, 150 Injured, and 10,000 Displaced
An initial report from the Yemeni government on Tuesday revealed the latest developments regarding Tropical Cyclone Tej, as well as the human and material damages it caused. The report specifically addressed the various directorates in the most affected areas of Mahra by the storm Tej.
According to the report, at least two people have been killed, and around 150 others have been injured. Significant damage has occurred to infrastructure, both public and private properties. Approximately 10,000 people have been displaced in the directorates of Al-Ghaydah and Haswayn in Mahra Governorate.
The report described Haswayn Directorate, previously declared a disaster area, as “the most affected by Cyclone Tej.”
In Socotra Governorate, local authorities in the archipelago announced that Cyclone Tej did not cause any human casualties, but it resulted in material damage to infrastructure, public and private properties, and citizens’ homes. Additionally, it caused road closures connecting the city of Hadibu, the governorate’s center, to the eastern regions of the governorate.
The local authorities in their report mentioned that the cyclone damaged around 50% of the roads, especially in the eastern regions. Access to the town of Ras Irsl, east of Socotra, became impossible due to road blockage in the Arar region, despite attempts to reach it using a helicopter rescue team affiliated with the Khalifa Humanitarian Foundation, which could not reach Irsl due to strong winds.
The report also stated that the cyclone’s damages included partial damage to the Hulaf port, with two boats sinking in the port’s basin. It caused partial and total damage to 100 houses and led seawater to enter some homes near the sea in Hadibu and Halah area. Yemen Mobile’s network was completely disrupted in the Qulansiyah directorate, and the southern coastal strip of the Noged region. More than 100 families were accommodated in the city of Hadibu.
In this context, the Yemeni government called on all international, regional, and non-governmental organizations operating in Yemen to support its efforts in responding to the Cyclone Tej disaster in Mahra Governorate. The cyclone resulted in the destruction of numerous homes, extensive damage to public and private properties, and the displacement of hundreds of individuals and families to open areas.
The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in the Yemeni government, in an appeal to organizations, stated, “The catastrophic situation that Mahra Governorate, along with Socotra Archipelago and the Hadramout coast, is facing due to the repercussions of Cyclone Tej represents a fertile environment for the growth of health and environmental risks, where epidemics and deadly diseases spread, posing a health disaster that threatens the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people.”
The statement appealed to “all partners to promptly respond and provide urgent support in all its forms to save people’s lives and prevent the spread of diseases and epidemics, especially in light of the critical conditions that Yemen is going through.”
The Ministry stressed that the leadership of the Ministry of Planning in the Yemeni government and all its teams are fully prepared to provide all possible facilitations and overcome all obstacles to facilitate the delivery of support and assistance to the affected areas and groups.
The Ministry has set up an operations room to receive communications and provide necessary facilities in this regard, emphasizing that the positive and immediate response from partners will be highly appreciated.
On Tuesday, the Yemeni government began distributing 7,000 food rations in the city of Al-Ghaydah and Haswayn Directorate in Mahra, along with the essential relief baskets.
The Early Warning Center in Hadramout Governorate announced that the intensity of the tropical cyclone Tej had decreased to a tropical storm since the early hours of Tuesday. The center predicts that the storm will continue to weaken into a low-pressure system gradually over the next 48 hours in the eastern areas of Hadramout Governorate.
According to the center, the indirect and limited effects of the storm will begin on Tuesday evening with the influx of cumulonimbus clouds, accompanied by scattered and varying rainfall over parts of the eastern directorates of Hadramout Governorate, the southern coastal strip, and off the regional waters of Yemen.
The center warned citizens to take precautions during rainfall, avoid riverbeds, refrain from crossing them, and keep vehicles away from the streams and their extensions within cities and villages. It also urged residents near mountain slopes and highlands to be cautious about the danger of mudslides and rockfalls.
Over the past eight years, Mahra and Socotra have witnessed an increase in natural disasters linked to climate change, including tropical cyclones and sudden floods that have claimed lives and led to the loss of livelihoods for many residents.
