BEIRUT/SIDON: The storm raging through Lebanon almost caused several deaths on Monday and continued to flood roads and homes. In Tyre, a family of seven nearly died after part of their roof collapsed due to the strong wind and pouring rain. Thre have been massive traffic jams, power cuts and widespread damage to agricultural fields. The meteorological department of the Civil Aviation Authority said that the harsh weather was expected to last until Tuesday night.
The municipality of Tyre formed a technical committee that checked up on the damage caused by the storm and discussed ways to resolve the problems as water flooded the roads of the coastal city, blocking traffic and damaging several cars. Activities at the Port of Tyre were frozen.
In Sidon the storm destroyed a 40-meter-long garden wall. There were no injuries when the 2-meter tall wall collapsed.
Floating piles of rubbish were seen out at sea as the high winds tore into the city’s notorious 600,000-cubic-meter open dump.
Activities at the Sidon Port were halted and transferred to the Beirut Port.
Water also flooded the streets of the city, with the Beirut to Sidon highway faring the worst.
The city’s mayor, Abdel-Rahman al-Bizri, blamed government negligence for the damage, singling out Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi.
“It’s unacceptable for thousands of citizens to be put in danger because of the lack of maintenance and the negligence of the government and of the Public Works Ministry,” Bizri said.
The mayor added that the highway was a vital passageway and that he was surprised how a great number of politicians had earlier passed through this road without noticing its dangerous state.
In Nabatieh, a school bus skidded because of the flooded roads in the Khardali region, injuring several students. The storm was also responsible for a car accident on the Khardali Bridge, injuring the mukhtar of the town of Wazzani.
The pouring rain pushed rocks and sand on to the roads in Akkar in the north of Lebanon, blocking traffic for more than an hour.
Also in the north, windows of parked cars were shattered in the town of Zghorta after hanging pictures of election candidates and politicians fell onto vehicles, according to the National News Agency.
The meteorological department of the Civil Aviation Authority said that temperatures on Tuesday – the expected last day of the stormy weather – would vary on the coastline from 12 to 20 degrees Celsius; on the mountain range from 2 to 12 degrees Celsius; in the Cedars from 4 degrees below zero to 11 degrees Celsius; and in the Bekaa from 8 to 13 degrees Celsius.
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