BEIRUT: Coastal cities and mountain villages were recovering Sunday from a major storm that struck the country over the weekend with rain, snow and winds that killed one person, cut off major roadways and damaged infrastructure. However, weather reports promised sunshine for the rest of the week, with the Civil Aviation Department at the Rafik Hariri International Airport predicting a gradual rise in temperatures.

The weekend cold snap killed a refugee child whose family had taken up residence in an unfinished building in the Bekaa Valley after fleeing the unrest in Syria. Temperatures were reported as low as -9 degrees Celsius in the Bekaa.

The Bekaa and Akkar regions suffered the brunt of the storm. While weather conditions had improved by Sunday afternoon, residents were still dealing with the storm’s aftermath.

Roads at higher elevations were closed off by the snow, while at low elevations across the country, roads and houses were flooded and up-to-150-kph winds damaged homes and brought down power lines.

“We woke up at 11:30 a.m. hearing a very strong sound and thought it was an explosion,” said Ibrahim Allou, the owner of a house in Tripoli damaged by the storm. “We rushed into the living room that overlooks the street and found that the wall had totally collapsed,” Allou added.

Winds of 75 kph destroyed several billboards and trees in Tripoli and caused power outages. The city’s officials toured wind- and rain-damaged homes and called for a national fund to restore weak buildings.

Further north, wind and waves destroyed boats along the coast in Akkar and maritime traffic and fishing were disrupted along the coast.

Meanwhile, in the south, Sidon saw heavy rains and over-6-meter-high waves spilled over the Corniche wall, flooding the main coastal road. Palm trees were snapped and standing water kept the coastal road closed, causing heavy traffic in the city.

The storm also damaged banana and citrus groves in Sidon and nearby Zahrani, while heavy rains caused a number of landslides.

The torrential rains over the past two days also caused a significant rise in the water levels of the Zahrani, Alwali and Sinik rivers.

The central Bekaa saw heavy rains and more-than-150-kph winds that damaged and uprooted fruit trees and toppled billboards.

In the Bekaa Valley large wheat fields and greenhouses were destroyed by the wind and flooding.

Residents at higher elevations in the north and east of the country had to dig themselves out of the snow, which was up to 1 meter deep in some areas.

The snow closed roads, damaged power lines and froze water pipes in the central Bekaa as well as in Bcharre, Tanourine and northern Akkar. Snow covered almost every village above an altitude of 600 meters in the affected areas and even reached villages in Koura in the west.

The Public Works Ministry, the Internal Security Forces and the army set up aid stations and worked to clear roads in heavily hit areas.

In Zghorta al-Zawiya snow was up to a meter deep in some areas, completely cutting off some villages.

Meanwhile, strong winds prevented bulldozers from clearing a number of mountain roads.

Fallen tree limbs on the Abda highway also kept the main Akkar thoroughfare to Syria closed.

Schools were closed Friday in many northern and eastern municipalities and a number of rural roads remained snowbound.

The weekend storm also marked the first time this year that snow has fully covered higher elevation areas in Jezzine in the south. Starting from an elevation of 700 meters, snow was up to 15 centimeters deep.

Main crossroads through Jezzine were closed until early Sunday morning after road crews cleared the snow and debris.

As the weather improved Jezzine residents left their homes to play in the snow, visit friends or go to nearby restaurants. – With additionnal reporting by Mohammed Zaatari, Antoine Amrieh and Rakan al-Fakih