Agrometeorological Early Warning Bulletin: Early warning: Highlands should brace for downpours and floods in the coming week (1-10 April 2024) [EN/AR]

The return of the Saif rainy season is marked by an increase of precipitation across the country. A peak of about 100 to 150 mm of rainfall will be observed in Ibb, Dhamar, Amran and Sana’a governorates. Some abrupt increase of precipitation in the Eastern part of the country (20 to 40 mm) will lead to storms, likely to be causing flooding in some of the most prone areas such as in Hadramaut governorate.

The increase of precipitation from the preceding months is likely to be leading to sporadic occurrence of flood that is expected to spread around the most flood prone areas, located at the foot of steep slopes, and along the main valleys, such as Rimah, Zabid, Maur, and Bana (Fig 1).

Forecast until the end of April presents an increase of rainfall with a risk of major flooding continuation and expansion across other governorates in the country. Therefore, the stormy weather will increase serious risks to lives and disruption on agricultural livelihoods and other sectors, such as Health, WASH, Education, and Access and communication. Since the preparation and planting activities are prevailing in most of the areas in country, farms and soils may be severely affected by flooding waters.

Pests: The latest models of rainfall prediction suggest a widespread of above-normal estimates in Yemen coast and interior, which is conducive for small scale desert locust breeding conditions in Al Maharah and area between Aden and Lahj (Fig 2). However, the impacts are expected to be minimal, considering the lo-calized infestation and low-density areas of desert locust are at mature stage. In addition, some hectares of land were already treated by the field operation teams.