BEIRUT: Skiers hit the slopes of Kesrouan and Metn Sunday, after a powerful storm buried villages across the country under thick layers of snow and wreaked havoc on the country’s weak infrastructure.
The weekend sunshine brought a welcomed change after two days of heavy blizzards, as the forecast called for clear skies Monday, with no rain or snow.
The Meteorology Department at the Beirut airport predicted an increase in temperatures as of Monday. The week will kick off with cloudy weather and temperatures ranging between 10 and 22 degrees Celsius along the coast, between 5 and 11 degrees in the mountains and between 6 and 17 degrees in the Bekaa Valley, according to the department.
But showers will renew as of Tuesday as a sandstorm is making its way toward Lebanon. Visibility will be significantly reduced due to the high winds carrying dust that will hit Lebanon.
Over the weekend, Lebanon began to survey the damage caused by the two-day storm named “Windy.”
Several roads in high-altitude regions remained blocked until early Sunday morning, and others were glazed in ice, causing several cars to skid.
The Lebanese Army and UNIFIL peacekeepers joined forces to open roads leading to the southeastern villages of Shebaa and Kfar Shuba. The road linking Shebaa to Ain Ata in the Rashaya region remained blocked, however, due to thick layers of snow.
Meanwhile the vital Dahr al-Baidar road, which connects Beirut to east Lebanon, has become accessible for all cars.
The morning’s icy roads led to several traffic accidents Saturday, including a collision between a van and a car near Qobeiyat, north Lebanon that injured 10 people.
In the village of Khraibet al-Jundi, north of Tripoli, two families were briefly trapped when support walls collapsed Friday night due to the heavy rain, blocking the entrances to their two-story house.
“We as a municipality do not have the necessary capacities to rebuild the support wall or to compensate the families,” the village’s Mayor Khaled Taha told The Daily Star. “This is why we call on the Higher Relief Committee to take this into account as soon as possible.”
In Bibnine, also north of Tripoli, the wall of a home collapsed during the storm, nearly burying it under mud.
Resident Marwan Abdallah told The Daily Star that he was outside the home with his children when they heard a loud noise.
“When we returned to the house we were surprised to find it filled with mud and stones after a bedroom wall collapsed,” he said, expressing relief that no one was injured in the incident.
Public Works Minister Ghazi Zeaiter visited Saturday the village of Mtaileb in the Metn district, where a large wall on the main road had also collapsed at night because of the storm.
“The wall is ancient, it is around 70 years old,” Zeaiter said. “The collapse will be fixed by the ministry according to the public safety article ... We will not wait for bureaucratic routine before launching the works.”
Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb called on Lebanon’s two telecoms companies, alfa and touch, to address the malfunctions that hit their networks as a result of the storm.
A statement released by Harb’s media office said the minister’s call came after major disruptions to telephone networks were witnessed as “Windy” raged.
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