November 12, 2012 12:41 AM
| The Daily Star |
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| A Civil Defense tow truck helps the driver of a stalled taxi remove his car as another passenger car is rescued. |
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BEIRUT: Thunderstorms caused flooding across Lebanon over the weekend, as a 12-year-old boy was struck by lightning and killed. Omar Ali al-Sheikh was killed by lightning in the Akkar town of Dreib.
His 14-year-old brother Bakr was severely wounded and according to the National News Agency is in an intensive care unit of a local hospital.
In Beirut, raw sewage spilled out onto the streets as the underground system was unable to accommodate the heavy flow of rainwater. Sewage also poured out in parts of Sidon, which was hit hard by the storm, as flooding in major streets in the city and Zahrani shut down several major roads and left numerous cars stranded.
Water flooded homes in Sidon, its suburb of Sahel al-Sabbagh and the Haret Saida’s Taamir, causing severe damage. In the nearby town of Ghazieh, homes in the Hai al-Roueiss neighborhood were flooded to such an extent that the municipality had to intervene to pump out excess water.
The rain nearly turned several Sidon streets into rivers: On Sit Nafiseh street water reached half a meter, leaving drivers stranded in their cars. The Corniche, which runs past the city’s garbage dump, ran with refuse-filled water.
Several students were stranded on a school bus in Hisbeh when the water prevented a bus’s doors from opening. Civil Defense personnel and workers from Sidon’s municipality eventually managed to pump enough water out of the bus to let the students disembark.
A wall collapsed near Sidon’s Labib Abu Dahr Hospital, severely damaging two cars. All commercial activity in the city, including trade and fishing, was paralyzed.
The rain and flooding extended across the country, and traffic on the main highway that links Beirut to Tripoli inched forward slowly due to heavy rains and poor visibility.
Hasan Masri, a meteorologist at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, told The Daily Star that 20 mm of rain had fallen Saturday alone. He was unable to provide precise measurements for Sunday, but said more had fallen Sunday than on the previous day.
Sunday’s rains were accompanied by strong winds of 15-35 km per hour, with some gusts reaching up to 70 km per hour. Masri added that there had been unstable seas and high waves, with temperatures Sunday reaching a high of 23 degrees Celsius and a low of 17 degrees Celsius.
Masri said this year’s rains have already far exceeded those of last year: by Nov. 11 of 2011, 68.8 mm of rain had fallen, whereas this year there has been 110.6 mm of rain since Sept. alone.
According to Masri, the showers could continue into Monday.
His 14-year-old brother Bakr was severely wounded and according to the National News Agency is in an intensive care unit of a local hospital.
In Beirut, raw sewage spilled out onto the streets as the underground system was unable to accommodate the heavy flow of rainwater. Sewage also poured out in parts of Sidon, which was hit hard by the storm, as flooding in major streets in the city and Zahrani shut down several major roads and left numerous cars stranded.
Water flooded homes in Sidon, its suburb of Sahel al-Sabbagh and the Haret Saida’s Taamir, causing severe damage. In the nearby town of Ghazieh, homes in the Hai al-Roueiss neighborhood were flooded to such an extent that the municipality had to intervene to pump out excess water.
The rain nearly turned several Sidon streets into rivers: On Sit Nafiseh street water reached half a meter, leaving drivers stranded in their cars. The Corniche, which runs past the city’s garbage dump, ran with refuse-filled water.
Several students were stranded on a school bus in Hisbeh when the water prevented a bus’s doors from opening. Civil Defense personnel and workers from Sidon’s municipality eventually managed to pump enough water out of the bus to let the students disembark.
A wall collapsed near Sidon’s Labib Abu Dahr Hospital, severely damaging two cars. All commercial activity in the city, including trade and fishing, was paralyzed.
The rain and flooding extended across the country, and traffic on the main highway that links Beirut to Tripoli inched forward slowly due to heavy rains and poor visibility.
Hasan Masri, a meteorologist at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, told The Daily Star that 20 mm of rain had fallen Saturday alone. He was unable to provide precise measurements for Sunday, but said more had fallen Sunday than on the previous day.
Sunday’s rains were accompanied by strong winds of 15-35 km per hour, with some gusts reaching up to 70 km per hour. Masri added that there had been unstable seas and high waves, with temperatures Sunday reaching a high of 23 degrees Celsius and a low of 17 degrees Celsius.
Masri said this year’s rains have already far exceeded those of last year: by Nov. 11 of 2011, 68.8 mm of rain had fallen, whereas this year there has been 110.6 mm of rain since Sept. alone.
According to Masri, the showers could continue into Monday.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Nov-12/194693-boy-killed-by-lightning-as-severe-thunderstorms-cause-flooding-across-country.ashx#ixzz2C8UOxF1E
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
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