As the storm continues, roads turn to lakes, trees fall, walls collapse

14^min

The storm which struck Lebanon as early as Saturday remains on a rage throughout the country and resulted so far in a number of damages, causing the closure of several roads, the collapse of a number of support walls and billboards due to the rising water levels and floods.

The Internal Security Forces blocked the Dbayeh-Dora seaside road and diverted traffic to the main highway after vehicles barely made it through the deep surface water in the area of Karantina Bridge.

This as the road linking Nahr al-Kaleb to Zikrit was closed; while the high water levels on Choueifat – Aramoun road brought the traffic to a complete stop.
On the other hand, the storm caused the collapse of a support wall near the Champville School, and a wall in the area of Hazmieh, damaging a number of cars.

Roads were also blocked in Sidon, Khaldeh, Damour, Salim Slem tunnel, while billboards and trees fell in a number of areas, causing damage to cars parked on the sides of the roads.

On Chtoura road, an Internal Security Forces checkpoint prevented the vehicles not equipped with chains from crossing to Daher al-Baydar.

In Baabda a dirt hill collapsed leading to the closure of the road on one side. Civil defense teams are now working on reopening it.

Meanwhile, the Qarantina area is witnessing a suffocating traffic jam due to the severe road floods.
In Tyre, the port has been closed with ongoing efforts to lift fishing boats from the water.

In this context, the Beirut Fire Brigade declared that rescue teams have been working since Sunday morning on rescuing citizens who were trapped inside their cars due to the rising water levels in the streets of Beirut.

These teams are also working on withdrawing waters that flooded a number of houses in many regions.
For his part, director of the emergency medical services in the Lebanese Red Cross, George Kittani called on the citizens not to leave their houses, except in emergency cases, noting that 34 people were admitted to hospitals due to storm related traffic accidents.

Consequently, sources confirmed to LBCI confirm that the Ministry of Education issued a statement calling for the closure of schools tomorrow and Wednesday due to unfavorable weather conditions.

This as the Security Forces announced that Maj. Gen. Riffi placed 90% of operational units on high alert, urging all motorists to drive cautiously and avoid mountain roads.

The storm has so far left two people dead with police identifying one fatality as Joseph Antoine Sfeir. They said the 69-year-old man was killed when his car skidded due to heavy rain on the Mansourieh road. Meanwhile, Civil Defense said rescue teams were still searching for seven-month-old Youssef al-Fadel who was washed away by heavy rain overnight in Iqlim al-Kharroub.

As for tomorrow (Tuesday) the weather will remain rainy, stormy with snowfall over 900m during day-time, and a rdop in temperature where snow is expected to fall over 700m at night, as forecasted by Beirut Airport -based Meteorology Department.

As the storm continues, roads turn to lakes, trees fall, walls collapse

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