Freak Second Cyclone To Hit War-Torn Yemen

A second tropical storm is heading for Yemen just three days after a rare cyclone dumped several years' worth of rain on the war-torn country.

The new storm, named Megh, is expected to intensify into a cyclone over the next 24 hours, bringing winds of up to 100 kmh (62 mph).

It is expected to hit the island of Socotra, 380km (238 miles) off Yemen in the Arabian Sea, on Sunday.

Socotra's 50,000 residents have already been battered this week by cyclone Chapala - believed to be the most powerful storm Yemen has seen in decades.

At least three people were killed and hundreds of homes were destroyed on the island.

The UN World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said it is thought to be the first time the area has seen back-to-back cyclones in the space of a week.

The freak weather has been caused by the "Indian Ocean dipole", a phenomenon similar to El Nino, when surface sea temperatures are higher than normal.

Alasdair Hainsworth, head of disaster risk reduction at the WMO, said the dipole normally dies down in November, but there could be a third cyclone after Megh.

He said sea surface temperatures in the area are up to 2C above average, and added: "It's clearly enough to kick things off in a big way.

"So much of the atmosphere is on a knife edge."

Chapala also killed at least eight people and destroyed hundreds of homes on Yemen's eastern coastal province of Hadramout.

It flooded the port city of Mukalla, which is controlled by al Qaeda fighters and locals warn is ill-equipped to deal with disaster.

Yemen is already in the grip of a humanitarian crisis caused by the seven-month civil war between government forces and Houthi rebels.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it is "further scaling up" its response measures in preparation for Megh.

Floods and hurricane winds have already displaced around 1,600 families in Hadramaut, 150 in Shabwah, 25 in Al Maharah, and hundreds more on Socotra.

Jilaa, a village of around 1,150 people in the Shabwah area, was completely washed away and there are further reports coming in of devastation, the UNHCR said.