Tropical Cyclone Chapala hits Yemen with heavy wind, rain

Ravaged by months of war, Yemen is now being battered by the first tropical storm on record to make landfall in the impoverished Arab country.

Tropical Cyclone Chapala slammed into Yemen's central coast early Tuesday, lashing the area with maximum sustained winds of around 140 kph (85 mph).

But the major concern is the extraordinary volume of rain the storm is expected to dump on the country's dry, rugged terrain, bringing a severe threat of mudslides.


Yemen typically gets around 100 millimeters (4 inches) of rain per year. Chapala is forecast to unleash two to three times that amount in the space of just one day.

The deluge is likely to cause "massive debris flows and flash flooding," CNN meteorologist Tom Sater warned.

The storm made landfall not far from Al Mukalla, a port that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula seized earlier this year amid the chaotic conflict engulfing Yemen.

[CNN]