'Zina' dies down, but icy weather keeps roads blocked

BEIRUT: Although snowstorm “Zina” has tapered off, a sharp drop in temperature and snow fall at low altitudes has kept many roads across Lebanon blocked and several areas without electricity Friday.

Many roads in mountainous areas and in the central Bekaa valley that were cleared from snow Thursday, including the Beirut-Damascus highway, were blocked again by heavy snowfall overnight.

Civil Defense teams and the Army struggled to keep the vital artery that connects the Bekaa Valley with the coastal area and Mount Lebanon open by clearing it several times during the day.

In North Lebanon's Akkar region, snow fell at just 200 meters above sea level, completely cutting off villages and towns from 1,000 meters. Certain villages were buried under more than 150 centimeters of snow, the state-run National News Agency said.

In the southeastern Rashaya region, main roads that had been cleared a day earlier were completely blocked Friday. Several towns have been isolated by thick layers of snow since the storm had started three days ago.

The Meteorological Department at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport forecast a further drop in temperature with snowfall from 500 meters above sea level Friday.

Scattered showers, thunder storms and snowfall at 800 meters above sea level is forecast for Saturday, according to the weather bulletin, which predicted temperature would start rising as of Sunday.

Low temperatures are forecast for the next 48 hours, ranging between 5 and 12 degrees on the coast, minus 3 to 3 degrees in the mountains, and minus 3 to 5 degrees in the Bekaa Valley.

“Today we are witnessing only the remnants of storm Zina. Gale-force and strong winds died down and we are back to normal winter weather with low temperatures and snowfall,” a weather official at the meteorological department told The Daily Star.

Snow storm Zina, which had battered Lebanon for the past three days, damaged the electricity system in the mountainous areas and on the coast, causing power cuts in many regions, including Beirut.

Maintenance teams of Lebanon’s electricity company, EDL, had repaired more than 50 percent of the damage by Friday morning, a company spokesperson told The Daily Star.

He said power production at the various plants across the country was restored to normal, but supply was still interrupted in several towns and villages in the mountains.

“Our technicians are unable to access many villages in the mountains above 600 meters, either because they are completely isolated by snow or not accessible because of icy roads,” the spokesperson said.