Floods that swept through a district in northern Yemen this week have killed at least 33 people and damaged more than 200 houses, a local official said.

Heavy rains that began on Tuesday as part of Yemen's monsoon season have caused major flooding and unleashed rockslides in the Melhan district of Al-Mahwit province.

The floods have killed 33 people, destroyed 28 houses and caused cracks in 200 others, Ali al-Zikam, secretary-general of the local council of Al-Mahwit province, said late on Wednesday on Facebook. The flooding also swept away five cars and left several people missing, he said.

Yemen's Red Crescent said on Thursday that 38 people are still missing, and that the agency is actively looking for them.

"The magnitude of the disaster in al-Mahwit is substantial," the agency said.

Typhoon Shanshan turns deadly, brings 30 inches of rain to Japan and flooding isn't over yet

More than 30 inches of rain has brought severe flooding to Japan and the story is far from over as former Typhoon Shanshan is forecast to stall over the island nation.

Former Typhoon Shanshan, now a severe tropical storm, is moving slowly up the southern half of Japan, bringing feet of rain, triggering landslides and unleashing tornadoes. The storm is far from over, however, as flooding rain will continue to fall through early next week due to the storm's slow trek across the island nation.

Shanshan was the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale late Thursday night JST after it pushed into Kyushu, Japan, Thursday afternoon as a Category 2 equivalent. Wind gusts of 115 mph (51.5 m/s) were reported at Makurazaki early Thursday morning.

More than a quarter of a million customers on the island of Kyushu were without power as of Thursday evening JST, Kyushu Electric Power said. A rain gauge at Ebino Plateau, in the mountains of central Kyushu, measured over 34 inches (864 mm) of rain from Tuesday to Friday, while another station at Shinmon reported 32.1 inches (814.5 mm).