BEIRUT: Public Works Minister Ghazi Zeaiter vowed Saturday to repair damages caused by the violent storm that battered Lebanon this week.
“We will have victory over the storm by continuing our work and by implementing what is necessary,” he said from the fishermen’s docks in the southern Beirut suburb of Ouzai.
The Ouzai port is one of several structures that were damaged as massive tidal waves slammed into Lebanon's coast earlier this week at the peak of Storm Yohan's ferocity.
Zeaiter expressed hopes that the government would make the “right decision” to allow for repairing the damages caused by the storm.
He also said the Cabinet was set discuss the issue in its next session.
The Ouzai dock was not the only port damaged by the storm. A Civil Defense rescue center stationed in Jounieh’s port was also heavily damaged, and four boats sank in the city’s port as a result of the crashing waves.
Sidon’s port was forced to close, as its facilities were ravaged by strong winds and 7-meter waves. Huge breakers swamped bulldozers at the city’s commercial seaport, dragging one into the sea.
The public works minister announced that the ministry will survey all damages caused by the storm and will scrupulously inspect damages caused specifically to fishermen’s boats.
“Some ports also need to be repaired and protected,” he said, noting that the level of damage varies from one port to the other.
Blowing over from Europe, Storm Yohan intensified Tuesday night and into Wednesday. Wind speeds reached 100 kilometers per hour, forming massive waves that battered corniches in coastal cities. Accompanied by heavy rain and hail, the storm destroyed restaurants, damaged crops, brought down trees and caused widespread blackouts.
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