Storm havoc in Mideast

LEBANON: The worst storms in a decade left swathes of Israel and Jordan under a blanket of snow and parts of Lebanon blacked out on Thursday, bringing misery to a region accustomed to temperate climates.

Freezing temperatures and floods since Sunday have claimed at least 11 lives across the region and exacerbated the plight of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees huddled in tented camps in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.

The United Nations issued an urgent appeal for funds to help the refugees in the northern Jordanian camp of Zaatari, which was almost entirely flooded on Wednesday, leaving residents to battle mud and sub-zero temperatures.

“The next 72 hours will be a critical test of our ability to meet the basic needs of children and their families at Zaatari” UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Jordan representative, Dominique Hyde said in a statement on Thursday.

But students in countries battered by snow, rain and bitter winds got a break as authorities ordered schools and universities closed in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel and in some towns in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The education ministry in war-hit Syria also announced that mid-term exams will be postponed until further notice due to “the prevailing weather conditions” as snow blanketing the capital Damascus.

In Jordan, a blizzard brought the country to a near halt.

King Abdullah II ordered the army to help clear roads across the usually parched country and help those stranded by the snow. Thursday was also declared a holiday.

The storm triggered power blackouts in several countries, including Lebanon, where electricity has been rationed since the 1975-1990 civil war. That plunged several areas into darkness and leaving those who rely on electricity to heat their homes shivering.

Energy and Water Minister Gebran Bassil told AFP: “There is a storm, and there is a problem in the grid.

The electricity workers are on strike, and they're not letting anyone fix the problem.”

A Beirut international airport weather expert said the storm is the worst ever to have hit Lebanon while other met officials in the region said it was the worst in 10 years.

In Jerusalem, at least 10 centimetres (four inches) of snow blanketed the Holy City as dawn broke, turning the pine-covered hills into what looked like an Alpine ski resort picture postcard.

At least 11 people were reportedly killed in the region. Among them were a man who froze to death after he fell asleep drunk in his car in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley and a baby swept away in a flash flood in the centre of the country. In the Palestinian territories, officials reported four fatalities since Tuesday, one of them a woman in the West Bank who died from a fire she started in her home to keep warm.

AFP