Local Editor

The United Nations [UN] weather agency warned on Friday that another rare cyclone was heading towards war-ravaged Yemen which would bring more rain to areas already badly battered by cyclone Chapala.

The new storm, named Megh, is brewing in the Arabian Sea and is expected to intensify into "a severe cyclonic storm" over the next 24 hours, with wind speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour [62 mph], as the World Meteorological Organization [WMO] said.

"The WMO says that the storm is not as severe as cyclone Chapala, but heavy rainfall could further worsen the already complex humanitarian situation in that country", UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing on Friday.

In the midst of the cyclone warning, Yemen has been under deadly military strikes by Saudi Arabia on a daily basis since late March. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the UN.

Tropical cyclones are extremely rare over the Arabian peninsula, and having two back-to-back was "an absolutely extraordinary event", WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis said.

From Socotra, the storm is expected to weaken into a low pressure area as it moves towards mainland Yemen, but will still bring large amounts of rain to areas already devastated by Chapala.

The UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA meanwhile said on Friday that up to 44,000 people had already been displaced by Chapala, which made landfall in mainland Yemen on Tuesday, triggering heavy flash floods and mudslides that killed eight people, two of them children, and injured 34 others.

Earlier, Chapala severely hit Socotra, forcing the evacuation of 18,000 people on the island and completely destroying 237 homes, OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke told reporters.

No one on the island was killed, despite initial reports that three people had died, he said.

He noted that the coastal road between Aden and the Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla, which serves as a main transport route for aid supplies, had been damaged by flooding.

Providing relief was also complicated by the fact that some affected areas are held by armed groups, including Al Qaeda.