Jordan on alert after flash
floods kill 11
 |
| Member of Jordan's Civil Defense searching for a missing girl in Madaba Governorate.- ANSA |
Two weeks after 21 people drowned in a flash flood in the
Dead Sea Area, Flash floods in Jordan have forced the evacuation of 4,000
tourists, with police stating that the death toll has risen to 11.
By Nathan Morley
The floods have been devastating – local authorities now
report at least 11 people were killed and rescue services are continuing to
search for five people swept away in their car by a torrent of water on the
outskirts of Amman.
“We’ve divided the work into ten groups to continue
searching. Drones are also searching,” Mustafa Al Bazaiah, a civil defence
worker, told journalists.
Elsewhere, rain, accompanied by heavy winds, pelted the port
city of Aqaba, whilst around 4,000 tourists were evacuated from the ancient
city of Petra, which is a popular destination at this time of year, given the
drop in temperatures.
Police said that floodwaters had risen to 4 metres in some
areas. Images on national television showed police rescue squads rushing to
reach the popular tourist attraction.
Floods in this region are not uncommon. In 1963,
twenty-three French tourists, along with a French priest and a Lebanese driver
were killed when floods swept their bus off a road near Petra.
Last month, 21 people drowned in a flash flood in the Dead
Sea area, which is 400 metres below sea level.
Heavy rain has returned to many parts of the Mediterranean
region with the first in a fresh series of storms moving across the south of
Europe.
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