Sanaa - At least 12 people were killed in Yemen in floods and lightning brought on by torrential rains, witnesses and official sources said.

Flooding killed three people Monday in Dhamar, 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Sanaa, witnesses said. Three more people, including two young girls, died in the province of Hodeida, some 270 kilometers (170 miles) west of the capital.

Another six people were struck dead by lightning Monday in Manakhah, which lies midway between Hodeida and Sanaa, and in the southwest of the country, the official Saba news agency reported.

At least five people were killed by floods that swept through Dhamar at the start of Yemen's rainy season in February.

Ten people were killed in similar flooding in April last year.