2010-02-28 04:36:52 - Complex Emergency - Jordan EDIS CODE: CE-20100228-25140-JOR
Date & Time: 2010-02-28 04:36:52 [UTC]
Area: Jordan, , Statewide, '!!! WARNING !!! Number of death person(s): 3
Number of Injured person(s): 25
Damage level: Heavy (Level 3)
Not confirmed information! Description: After a weekend of cold and wet weather, a second, stronger depression is forecast to affect the country today, bringing more rain. The torrential rain and rough weather conditions that started Thursday afternoon and continued until late Saturday caused several accidents, resulting in three deaths and 25 injuries. As of Saturday evening, Civil Defence Department (CDD) personnel were searching for a 38-year-old man whose truck was waterlogged and swept away by flash floods on Friday in Falhah village in Madaba Governorate. "The truck was caught by three-metre-high rainwater that flooded a street in a valley. Eyewitnesses said that the motorist climbed on the roof of his truck to escape the strong currents, but was swept away together with the vehicle," a source at the CDD told The Jordan Times yesterday. “Our teams have searched 10 kilometres around the waterway but found nothing; five kilometres are left,” the source said, saying the man’s chances of survival were slim due to the strong water currents and the rocks carried along the stream. On Saturday, an eight-year-old boy died after falling into a rainwater-harvesting pool in the Turkmaniyeh area near Um Sayhoun village. CDD staff in Petra retrieved the body, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. The CDD dealt with several weather-related emergencies over the weekend, including rescuing 40 tourists whose bus was caught in flash floods in Maan Governorate, and 22 visitors in the ancient city of Petra, after water levels increased in the Siq and Treasury areas. The department evacuated families from 20 houses in Aqaba’s Rahmeh area on Friday after a three-metre-deep sand dam collapsed and flooded their homes. “Six people were also trapped due to the floods in the same area… the teams rescued them and took them to hospital, where they were reported in good health,” the source said. Also on Friday morning, CDD personnel rescued a family living in a tent in Karak Governorate after the area witnessed flash floods, as well as six people near Mujib Dam, five in Mafraq and eight others in Tafileh. Authorities on Saturday urged citizens to take precautionary measures during the unstable weather and warned motorists to drive carefully, particularly in hilly areas. The CDD reminded families using gas heaters to be extremely careful and protect themselves from the dangers of fire and carbon monoxide poisoning by leaving a window partially open for fresh air to circulate, and to carry out maintenance on the heaters to prevent leakage. A total of 394 fires occurred last year, resulting in nine deaths and 332 injuries, according to CDD figures.
Water officials said precipitation as of Saturday morning had channelled more than 18 million cubic metres (mcm) of water into the country’s major dams, while agriculture specialists said the heavy downpour would increase agricultural productivity. The Kingdom’s major dams currently hold 58 per cent of their total capacity of 215.44mcm, according to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. “The Kingdom’s dams now hold 125mcm, while storage at the Wihdeh Dam increased to 14.6mcm of its 110mcm capacity,” Adnan Zu’bi, the ministry’s spokesperson and assistant secretary general, told The Jordan Times yesterday. Water storage at the Wihdeh Dam is currently experimental and is not counted in the Kingdom’s total figures. Zu’bi said three dams reached their maximum capacity and overflowed, including the 8.1mcm Waleh Dam in Madaba Governorate, which overflowed for the third time in two months. Mujib Dam also overflowed for the first time this winter, he noted, adding that the ministry is currently studying raising the capacity of the Waleh and Mujib dams. Water officials recently indicated that the current wet season has supplied the Kingdom, the fourth water-poorest nation in the world, with adequate water, but cautioned that several exceptional rainy seasons are needed to replenish diminishing underground water sources.
The Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) on Saturday said a stronger depression, centred over Cyprus, will start affecting the country this morning. “Heavy rain, thunder and hail are expected tomorrow, while temperatures will be two to three degrees below their annual average of 13°C for this time of year,” a meteorologist at the department told The Jordan Times yesterday. It will be cold and cloudy today, with rainfall in the northern and central regions of the country extending gradually to the southern region, the weatherman said. Temperatures will range between a high of 10˚C during the day and a low of 4°C overnight in Amman, while winds will be westerly brisk with gusts at times, according to the JMD. “The effects of the depression are expected to taper off by Monday afternoon, but it will remain cold and partly cloudy with chances of sporadic rain,” the meteorologist said. Temperatures on Monday will reach a maximum of 12°C and drop to a minimum of 3°C in the capital, while winds will be northwesterly moderate. A further rise is mercury levels is forecast on Tuesday, although the weather will remain relatively cold. Temperatures will range between 16°C during the day and 6°C at night, while winds will be southwesterly moderate, according to the JMD.
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