Heavy rains point to harsh winter

MUD BATH: Unexpectedly heavy rains over the past week in Syria and Lebanon gave an early preview of winter, particularly to those in living in camps.

The first rains of winter flooded areas across the region last week and left thousands caught off guard by its ferocity.

Here, in northern Syria’s Atama Refugee Camp on the border with Turkey, a boy engulfed in mud stands barefoot in the rain. The shoes he carries are heavily covered with mud.

“The camp was exposed to heavy rain, which led to huge flooding, 10 completely destroyed tents and other damage,” an Akrama Refugee Camp resident in northern Syria told UK-based news agency Rai al-Youm.

In Akrama and other refugee camps near the Turkish border, infrastructure is poor even though some residents having been living there for years. The tents continue to sit directly on dirt, making the rains especially devastating when it floods.

Meanwhile, in the Akkar area in northern Lebanon, the Lebanese Red Cross moved 200 Syrian refugee families to safe areas from their camps after they had been flooded on Friday, reported Lebanese state news National News Agency.

Refugees are not the only ones feeling the effects of the heavy rain. In Hama province, flooding has caused severe damage to a number of houses in a west Hama village over the past several days, reported Syrian state news SANA.

Other photographs circulating on social media Tuesday depict heavy flooding in Deir e-Zor as well, cutting off access to roads across the province.

“This is just the beginning, and the coming days will witness more rainfall,” said the Akrama resident, “despite the fact that there is goodness and blessing in the rain.”

-October 21, 2014

-Photo courtesy of @THAERSORY1. 

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