BEIRUT: Snowstorm “Zina” started to abate Thursday after dumping heavy rain and snow that caused damage in agriculture fields and blocked roads and main highways across Lebanon, isolating many parts of the country.
But major roads, including Beirut-Damascus highway, were still blocked Thursday morning, disrupting traffic between Lebanon’s central Bekaa valley, the coastal region and Mount Lebanon, police said, as civil defense forces struggled to reopen the roads.
The head of Lebanese Red Cross George Kettaneh told a local radio station that coordination between medics, the Army, police and civil defense forces was ongoing to respond to emergencies.
In north Lebanon, thick layers of snow covered the mountains and slopes in Akkar, and a thin layer reached the coast for the first time in 60 years.
Roads from an altitude of 600 meters above sea level were still blocked by snow, as bulldozers and snowplows began clearing main motorways to unblock many villages that were completely cut off.
A patient in the village of Kfartoun could not be transported to the hospital and was being treated at home until the road is cleared, the National News Agency said.
Villages in Arkoub and Shebaa areas in southeast Lebanon were still completely isolated with 90 centimeters of snow, as snowfall continued early Thursday.
The headquarters of UNIFIL’s Indian battalion in Kfarshouba was totally snowed in, and rivers in the area flooded agricultural fields, destroying crops.
Three Syrians, including an 8-year-old boy, who froze to death Wednesday on the outskirts of Shebaa were buried in the town’s cemetery Thursday, media reports said.
On the coast, “Zina” caused extensive damage to orange and citrus orchards. Greenhouses were blown off by strong winds in Tyre and several fishing boats were heavily damaged by high waves which flooded the city’s port.
Meanwhile, most of the roads in the high mountains were still blocked as civil defense and army bulldozers worked on removing the snow.
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