SIDON, Lebanon: Residents of Sidon took to boats Sunday as the southern city’s flooded streets turned into canals in the aftermath of heavy overnight rainfall.
The fact that the Public Works and Transport Ministry was carrying out infrastructure projects only made the flooding worse in routes like Quds Street, according to residents, where storm drains couldn’t accommodate such high levels of rainfall.
Asma Blouli, a lingerie shop owner, said that a lot of her merchandise had been damaged by the flooding.
“Why didn’t this happen in the past when infrastructure couldn’t handle this much rain, but now after one month of renovation you have this flood? Who do we hold accountable?” she asked.
Issa Awad had just stepped out of his ground-floor apartment when part of the wall of the building collapsed on top of him.
Awad was taken to the nearby Hammoud University Hospital, where he is being treated for moderate wounds.
Residents in the area are afraid that the entire building would collapse as a result of the heavy storms.
Water levels were as high as 30 cm on Riad al-Solh Street because of clogged drains on the road. The owner of a local toy store used a small inflated row boat to locate the storm drains, and residents attempted to clear the blockage.
The heavy floods even entered some of the houses located along Riad al-Solh Street.
Meanwhile, fields on either side of the main highway linking Sidon to the southern city of Tyre were flooded, and water collected in pools on the main roads.
The Meteorological Department at Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport said the weekend’s rainfall was expected to extend into Tuesday before clearing up, with no rain forecast after Wednesday.
An emergency team from Sidon’s Municipality opened the clogged sewage drains Sunday. But that was after the flooding had already damaged several local stores.
Saber Moussa Abdullah, a furniture shop owner, said water had been entering shops since dawn Sunday.
“We called Lebanon’s Civil Defense teams as well as the municipality of Sidon, which drained the water, but that was only after it had already damaged most of the furniture,” he said.
A building in southeast Sidon was damaged when the structure’s supporting wall collapsed as a result of the rainfall.
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