nat News Feb 26, 2003 www.aljazeerah.info

Al-Jazeerah, News

Rain, snow and high winds blasted Lebanon again on Tuesday, battering areas still trying to recover from earlier storms and exposing the authorities to more blame for weather-induced paralysis across the country.
Forecasters said the storm will continue through Wednesday and is expected to deliver the heaviest snow in the Eastern Mediterranean since 1950.
Snow fell at 700 meters, cutting off roads, power and entire villages, while rain added to the flooding of the Central and Western Bekaa. The Beirut-Damascus highway was again closed at Dahr al-Baidar due to snow. Other routes to the Bekaa, including the Hasbaya-Western Bekaa-Marjayoun road were also impassable. A road linking Qobeiat with Hermel was also closed by snow and mudslides, with nothing passing through Ain Burghul.
The army, Internal Security Forces, police and the Civil Defense have jointly mobilized all their forces. The Public Works and Transport Ministry has pitched in bulldozers and other equipment to help rescue people stranded on closed roads.
The rain and snow have closed roads throughout Baalbek-Hermel and isolated entire towns. People have remained at home. On Monday night, a rescue crew saved a group of students who were stranded in the snow in Deir al-Ahmar on their way to Yammouneh.
Public and private schools in the Baalbek-Hermel area were closed due to power outages.
Low temperatures have prompted a stocking up on diesel fuel. Many shops were without their usual delivery of bread, forcing people to travel longer distances to find open bakeries, which witnessed a rush reminiscent of civil war days, when people used to queue for bread and other basic commodities.
There were several cases of dead livestock in mountain areas where the thickness of the snow has varied between 40 centimeters and 2 meters. The snow and ice has also cut off water networks.
In Jezzine, as in many other areas, motorists had to use tire chains. A number of bulldozers were spotted in the region, along with people carrying bread and a diesel vendor driving around to sell fuel to private homes for heating purposes.
“The most important thing for me is to keep food on the table,” Massoud Abi Nader said, carrying a pack of bread home for his family.
In Nabatieh, the Iqlim al-Tuffah area and the southern border towns, snow has fallen since Monday night. Marjayoun, Arqoub and Kfar Shuba districts were covered with snow and heavy fog. In Iqlim al-Tuffah, the snowfall ranged from 10-15 centimeters, closing the Jarjou-Jbaa, Jbaa-Ain Qana, Ain Qana-Kfar Kila and Ain Bouswar-Jbaa roads. In Marjayoun, which saw 5-10 centimeters of snow, shops were closed.
In Shebaa, bulldozers worked hard in the morning to clear 10 centimeters of snow and reopen the main road. Shebaa residents have called on the state to provide them with basic commodities and diesel for heating, as their town has been isolated for two days.
In Meiss al-Jabal, heavy rain has isolated several homes and led to the death of 200 heads of livestock, which drowned.
The weather has been devastating for many farmers.
The chairman of the Higher Relief Committee, Yehia Raad, briefed the president of the General Confederation of Farmers Union, Antoine Howayyek, Tuesday on an army survey that will assess the damages caused by the storm. Raad said the survey would start “as soon as basic commodities have been secured for people stranded by the storm and the closed roads have been reopened.”
Army units rescued dozens of people stranded in the snow inside their cars in the Bekaa.
In the South, the army helped reopen the Arab Salim-Jbaa-Jarjou road, which was blocked by snow, an army statement said Tuesday. The army also sent inflatable rubber boats to Akkar to help evacuate people stranded in flooded areas.
Public Works and Transport Minister Najib Mikati was on
hand Tuesday to inspect the earthmoving equipment used by the ministry to keep roads open. He issued instructions for all major roads to be re-opened, especially the international ones.
Road-clearing efforts are under way in Faraya, Faqra, Ihmij, Mrouj, Baskinta, the Cedars, Ehden, Akkar, Zahle, Dahr al-Baidar, Mdeirej and several southern towns.
Mikati said that 15 bulldozers were being used around the clock in the Dahr al-Baidar area.
The stormy weather was also the focus of attention at Parliament on Tuesday.
Speaker Nabih Berri met with Interior Minister Elias Murr and discussions focused on the efforts by the ISF to prevent any casualties from the storms. Murr told reporters after his meeting with Berri that Finance Minister Fouad Siniora released the funds earmarked for the Civil Defense, which had been frozen at the ministry.
He said that the decision was taken on Monday and that funds were made available to Civil Defense on Tuesday.
The freezing of the funds had been the subject of a dispute between Murr and Siniora, who traded accusations over the weekend.
Murr blamed Siniora’s decision to hold up the funds for the Civil Defense’s inability to adequately mobilize emergency services. Murr also accused Siniora of having failed to issue the necessary decree activating temporary and volunteer Civil Defense staff to full-time duty.
Siniora had said Murr mishandled the situation by “throwing the responsibility for emergencies on other ministries.”
Electricite du Liban also announced that the heavy storms had caused significant damage to its power network.
In a statement Tuesday, EDL said its plant and installations suffered “significant damage.”
“The majority of the damage has been fixed,” the statement said. “But more has been reported as a result of the current storm.” With agencies

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