Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Heavy Rains and Floods in Sinai And Aswan

Today the weather was bad in Egypt , some areas were lucky enough to avoid heavy rains like for instance Cairo but some areas were unlucky as the heavy rains turned in to flood and this is just the start according to weather forecast.
Officially 4 citizens have been killed , hopefully I will get a better information later today.
Aswan , North Sinai and South Sinai have the bigger share in losses because of the rains that turned in to floods since the morning. Already Nazif has ordered a quick rescue operations for the citizens there.
A British tourist has died in accident in the Nile because of the heavy rains in Aswan today. I feel sorry for him along with all those who died today.
There are rumors that the Egyptian and Israeli forces on our borders searching a missing group of Israeli tourists. Already the citizens in Sinai found themselves in front of an Israeli jeep brought by the floods in the morning !!
Also I read a tweet that the Sharm El-Sheikh airport was badly damaged in the rains !!
Of course there is not official confirmation and let’s say our reporters beside waiting for the permission to go there , are unwilling to take the risk now on the road in this unsuitable weather.
Things in Sinai are not that great at all and it needs urgent help , I hope that the army will save the day as usual. The people in Sinai are praying that the rains do not destroy their houses and kill them.
Here are photos from our big rainy day in Egypt from Central Sinai , it is actually strange some areas in the same governorate were dry like a desert where as other areas were like the tropical forest !!
Floods in Central Sinai
Wadi Al Amr Central Sinai 
 Update No.1 :
  • Sharm El-Sheikh can't be reached now , all highways are cuts because of floods. I do not know about telephone lines and other means of communications too in the city 
  • Sharm El-Sheikh's airport was partially damaged but thank God nobody was hurt , the roof in the second floor was destroyed because of yesterday's thunderstorms. 
  • The Sharm El-Sheikh's airport was closed for 8 hours but currently it is operating according to news report which I highly doubt !!
  • People in North Sinai are really praying to get from this flood , things seem to be terrible there and the aids have not reached yet from Cairo despite Nazif has ordered it since knowing the news in the morning , already I wonder where the new governor is now !!??
  • Now you must understand that the stream of the flood in North Sinai will end in the Mediterranean sea and so in the coming few hours Al-Arish and Rafah can be isolated from the rest of the world
Update No.2 : 
  • It turned out that President Mubarak has visited Sharm El-Sheikh today to see the damages in the city !! It is very thoughtful considering that he spends there a very long time but I wonder if he thought of checking out the North to see the damages there , I understand the danger of going there but he went to Sharm !!??
Update No.3
  • The Egyptian National TV is acting as usual as if there is no crisis in the country. 
  • Here are more photos from Al-Arish and from Aswan 


    From Aswan



    From Al Arish
     Update No.4
    •  Hundreds of houses have been destroyed in Sinai and Aswan. 
    • There are unconfirmed news that several electricity pylons at the high dam were destroyed by the thunderstorms and that the North of the country has no electricity ; of course I feel that this may be partially untrue because we still are having electricity , may be couple of pylons were damaged but not all of them. 
    • 6 six red sea ports are closed because of the weather conditions. 
    • The telephone landlines in Sharm El-Sheikh are reportedly cut
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    15 comments:

    1. I was at Sharm El Sheik airport when the storm started, and can confirm that the roof in the visitors terminal along with the locals terminal are both damaged, I flew home last night, and we had to use the locals terminal as they have closed the visitors terminal. We couldn't use our mobiles, but I insited on texting and eventualy sent out a message that we were safe to our family, and the land lines in most of the hotels are out. We feel very luck it was a frightening experience. Good Luck to all still out there and those who have to rebuild your homes and business

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    2. It is weird that you cannot find any information at all on the internet.

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    3. We were in Taba when the storms hit due to fly home to the UK in the morning unfortunately the mountain road to the airport was cut off due to landslides and falling rocks, so had to stay the night. We managed to navigate the road on the 19th but there was still a lot of stones and mud on the road, bjut passable with care.

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    4. Thank you for your information - it is important to read something about this fatal catastrophy here, because there is almost nothing in the internet.
      It is a pity that nobody in the rest of the world really seems to be interested and nobody is informed!
      What happened to the old buildings and temples?
      Have you got some help yet?
      Did it also rain in the desert?
      Is it still raining?
      All good wishes!

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    5. @anonymous tourist ,thank God that you are safe and I hope that you still have good memory in our country regardless of this thunderstorm

      @Medsha , I do not know why , may be because all the world is focusing on this tragedy in Haiti

      @British anonymous, I hope that you reached to UK safely , also I wish that storm did not spoil your vacation either

      @anonymous#2 , I do not know about the temples yet but the main damages are in certain villages , it rained in the desert too in Sinai
      Regarding the weather , well it has been unstable up till now

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    6. hello i am going two dreams vaction sharm el sherk on 24 jan i am really worried about the floods cud some 1 tell me is it safe now has the storm stop thank you

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    7. @anonymous tourist , I do not know honestly. Already my cousins and aunt are going there too so I will check wit them

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    8. we came back from sharm on monday the day after the storm.yes it was very frighting, we couldn't contact anyboby to let them know we were alright,we traveled through naama bay on our way to the airport and cried at the damage we saw,why wasn't any of this reported in the english press or telly, they must of been 10 uk flights affected with over 2000 uk residents involved our Thoughts are with you all

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    9. @British anonymous, thank you so much for your thoughts and feelings. Already our Egyptian telly also acts as if there is nothing at all !! So no wonder that it is not highlighted abroad

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    10. my partner and i was caught in the storm in sharm it was the worst thing i have ever seen in my life the hotel reception ceiling fell in water was gushing in threw the main doors the staff was amazing the never gave up trying to get the water out they worked threw the night and straight threw the day to keep use all safe at the st georges three corners so we all add a whip round for staff to say thanks and raised 34.000 eygptian £ we got back 25th jan and everything was normal. anonymous

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    11. We were there when the storm hit Sharm
      Our room was flooded at the hotel Tropicano club azure.A lot of damage in the reception area. The thunder and lightning were the loudest and noisiest I have ever heard. The rain didnt last long but whilst it rained it was sooo heavy. It was so bad that the pool flooded over and the water was directed into the hotel- the staff swept it thro and out the other side of the building.
      The staff worked very hard to get the hotel back to normal.
      Well done to them for all their hard work x
      btw..all day on the Monday we had no outside communication method...ie..no internet-landlines or mobile signals
      But then the airport was down..and it is military- if u get my drift.
      Was approx 9pm Monday night...almost 24 hours later before we managed to get a message to our families in the UK.

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    12. I was at Sharm El Sheik airport when the storm started, and can confirm that the roof in the visitors terminal along with the locals terminal are both damaged, I flew home last night, and we had to use the locals terminal as they have closed the visitors terminal. We couldn't use our mobiles, but I insited on texting and eventualy sent out a message that we were safe to our family, and the land lines in most of the hotels are out. We feel very luck it was a frightening experience. Good Luck to all still out there and those who have to rebuild your homes and business

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    13. Guests usually want something to eat shortly after that, sending you off to the kitchen to fetch some food.

      Pousadas Em Natal

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    14. http://takvera.blogspot.com/2013/01/torrential-rain-on-queensland-coast.html

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    15. This did NOT happen.

      ReplyDelete

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