At least seven people were killed in a Sanaa shanty town in the worst flooding to hit the Yemeni capital in over a decade, officials said on Thursday, according to Reuters. Witnesses said water streamed down from nearby mountains on Wednesday evening after torrential rain into a low-lying residential area of eastern Sanaa with no drainage system, flooding hundreds of homes. "A flood suddenly appeared and invaded the houses," said Jamil Mohamed, a resident of the flooded shanty town. President Ali Abdullah Saleh toured the affected areas of the capital, the defence ministry's online newspaper said. In the capital, where many streets remained flooded, rescue operations continued and more than 250 people were evacuated from their homes and taken to shelter in schools. More rain was forecast for Thursday but was not expected to be as heavy. Seasonal flooding killed about 180 people in 2008 in two eastern provinces, according to U.N. agencies, and floods in 1998 killed at least 48 people south of Sanaa. Of the seven people who died, some drowned and others were killed by falling electricity pylons, officials said. Two more people were hurt and in hospital.
