Yemen floods leave at least 17 dead, including 8 children

Heavy rains in Yemen have triggered floods, killing at least 17 people in the country's east, a Tuesday report said.

Among those found dead are eight children, Anadolu Agency cited Yemen's health ministry as saying.

The Yemeni government called on the UN to help those affected by the floods in several provinces across the country.

Yemen's Houthi rebels also made an appeal for help to save the capital, Sanaa, from the floods that have toppled buildings. 

With torrents sweeping away roads after heavy rains, hundreds of families became displaced. A hotel marooned in muddied water in Sanaa collapsed late Monday, killing four people and injuring three. 

"We are sending a call of distress to the entire world and international organisations – particularly the UNESCO and world heritage centers – to save the ancient city of Sanaa,” the rebel General Organization for the Preservation of Historic Cities said in a statement.

"Some of the city's buildings collapsed due to the continuing rains that ravaged several Yemeni regions," the statement said.

Read more: Flooding from heavy seasonal rains leaves 16 dead in Yemen 

Yemen's infrastructure has been devastated by a conflict that escalated in March 2015 after Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa. 

More than 100,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced since Yemen's conflict exacerbated with the Saudi-led coalition intervention in 2015, in what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

According to the UN, the conflict has also left some 3.65 million internally displaced.

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