The General Authority for Meteorology (GAM) has warned of possible torrential rain with autumn approaching, which requires the clearing of water drains in North and South Sinai, the Red Sea strip and some governorates in Upper Egypt, according to GAM official Wahid Seoudy.
The cities of Nuweiba and St. Catherine in South Sinai saw medium torrential rain on Sunday that disrupted traffic on the international road in central Sinai and the Dahab-St. Catherine-Nuweiba road.
The South Sinai operations room said floods were 260 centimeters high, closing the Taba-Dahab road.
Salman Abu Mardy, a resident of Wadi al-Nasb, said the floods caused a partial collapse of the Wadi al-Nasb dam on Sunday, while Adel Kassab, crisis management director of South Sinai, said they also closed the Wadi Watir road coming from Nuweiba.
Central and North Sinai also witnessed medium torrential rain in the city of Nikhil, but roads were not blocked.
City Council Chairman Nasrallah Mohamed said the the water was five centimeters high on the Suez-Nikhil-Nuweiba road, adding that all hospitals, the ambulance service and the fire brigade were put on alert.
In Aswan and Minya, the authorities were also put on alert, and the governors ordered the clearing of the water drains.
Ali al-Faramawy, director of Cabinet’s Slum Development Fund, said he had maps of potential flood courses that would threaten the lives of the residents in those governorates.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
