Flood in Yemen kills 2 children

   SANAA, May 4  -- Torrential rains and flooding killed two children in Yemen's central province of Ibb in the last 24 hours, pro-government media reported on Monday, citing local residents.
   According to al-Masdar news website, a nine-year-old girl, was swept away by floods in al-Mashannah district in the center of Ibb, while a 14-year-old girl drowned in the floods while shepherd the sheep on the highlands of al-Sayyani district in south Ibb.
   Several villages in the two districts have been damaged by the torrential rains and floods.
   In the past two weeks, at least seven people, including five children, have been killed by the floods in the northern provinces of Marib and Sanaa, according to the local health authorities.
   The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen has estimated that 21,240 families (148,680 people) have been affected by flooding in 13 provinces since mid-April.
   The UN aid agencies have expressed fears of the potential spread of deadly epidemics in the rainy season in the war-ravaged country, where cholera has infected over 1 million people and killed more than 2,000 since 2017.
   Meanwhile, Yemen on Monday reported two new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases to 12. Xinhua