120 evacuated due to snowfall, road blockade — PSD

By Hana Namrouqa - Jan 27,2018 - Last updated at Jan 27,2018

Scenes of snow in Shobak, in Maan Governorate, over the weekend (Photo by Khalid Oudat)

AMMAN — Over 120 people were evacuated to safety over the weekend after snow in the northern and southern mountainous areas blocked roads, authorities said on Saturday.

By Saturday noon, all roads in the country were open to traffic, according to the Public Security Department (PSD).

“There are no blocked roads due to snow or floods,” PSD Spokesperson Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

Meanwhile, the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) said that impact of the depression that affected the country on Thursday is forecast to ease off on Saturday evening, noting that it brought snow accumulation in some parts of the country that reached 10 centimetres (cm).

The highest snow accumulation was recorded in Haisheh, a high mountainous area in Maan, where it reached 10cm.

“Jabal Mabrak near Shobak and Al Mazar Districk in Karak also registered snow accumulation of 7cm…,” head of JMD’s weather forecast section Raed Rafed told The Jordan Times.

A CDD official said that departments in areas that witnessed snowfall and heavy rain in the north and south of Jordan responded to 39 cases of kidney dialysis and 24 child birth cases, many of which were performed by paramedics inside ambulances.

“We urge people to be very cautions while on roads, especially as ice formation is expected on Sunday during the early hours,” the CDD official said.

The depression, which caused temperatures to drop to less than 6ºC below their annual average for this time of the year of 12ºC, also brought heavy rain, especially to the southern parts of the country.

The weekend’s rain channelled 3 million cubic metres of water into the country’s 14 major dams, raising their storage to 123mcm of their total capacity of 336mcm, according to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

“The dams now hold 36.6 per cent of their total capacity,” an official at the ministry told The Jordan Times.

During this time last year, the dams held 143.3mcm or 43.2 per cent of their total capacity, the ministry’s official noted.

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