Death toll from Egypt’s heavy rains rises to 11
The death toll from rainrelated accidents in Egypt after heavy downpours on Tuesday and Wednesday rose to 11, security officials said on Thursday as more unsettled weather was forecast for much of the country this weekend.
Government spokesman Nader Saad said Cairo received 15 millimetres of rain, double the amount forecast by the meteorological bureau a week earlier.
The effect of the downpour was more severe because it only lasted for 90 minutes, he said.
“Cairo and other cities in Egypt don’t have rainwater drainage systems because the weather is usually dry,” Mr Saad said. “We rarely see rain in Cairo. And when it does rain, it’s never that heavy.”
Flooding from the downpour caused chaos in the Egyptian capital, a city of about 20 million people on the banks of the Nile, but Mr Saad said the government had no intention of building a rainwater drainage system because of the cost.
The estimated cost of such a system ranged from 200 billion Egyptian pounds (Dh45.54bn) to 300bn pounds, which would be better spent on building hospitals and schools, he said.
“Does it make sense to spend such an astronomical sum of money for something that happens once every one or two years?” Mr Saad said.
The spokesman said the government advised people to stay indoors on Friday in anticipation of more heavy rain.
Security officials said most of the 11 fatalities in rain-related accidents were electrocuted in six provinces, including Cairo.
The people killed included five children, one of whom was swept away by flash floods with her father from their farmland in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula.
The downpour on Tuesday night and early Wednesday inundated streets and road tunnels in Cairo, almost bringing the usually congested traffic in the capital to a complete halt in some areas. Rain also delayed flights from the international airport when one of its terminals was flooded.
Commuters complained that car journeys that normally took 60 minutes were taking six hours to complete and parents reported delays of up to five hours by school buses dropping their children home.
The weather-related mayhem in the city dominated the news and made the front page of every newspaper.
Social media carried criticism of the government for its perceived inefficiency in handling the disruption, alongside images and video clips of flooded streets and young people helping elderly residents through murky waters that were knee deep in places.
However, Mr Saad said the government had no intention of offering an apology in the face of the criticism, arguing that local authorities had done everything they could to deal with the situation.
“The government would have apologised to citizens if it had seen any negligence on its part, but everyone has carried out their duties,” he said.