Flash floods in Jordan have ruined the Travel plans of tourists. The city of Petra is mountainous and famous for its carved rock ruins. It attracts visitors in large numbers and many of them had to be moved to safer areas before flash floods inundated the region. In spite of that, the freak of nature left thousands stranded and they needed evacuation.

The Treasury is the main attraction here and entrance to it is via a narrow canyon. Since water was surging through the narrow space, the visitors tried to escape from the impending danger by moving to higher ground.

The Guardian reports that six tourists were missing in the Wadi Rum desert. Subsequently, it is confirmed four of them were alive and the search was on for the remaining two. The death toll in totality has risen to 12, and there are reports of many persons missing.

Authorities are alive to the situation

There is a state of emergency declared in the Red Sea port city of Aqaba while a major highway linking Amman with the south is closed due to flash floods. Moreover, the government has announced the closure of universities and schools while mosques threw open their doors to provide shelter to those who were affected by the natural disaster.

Incidentally, flash floods had struck the Dead Sea region a couple of weeks back and swept away children who were on an outing. It was labeled as “one of the country’s worst natural disasters in decades.” The authorities must realize that such climatic disorders do not happen all of a sudden but build up gradually and experts usually attribute these to Global warming.

Drones deployed to search for survivors

According to CNN, the climatic disturbance in southern Jordan has forced the closure of the desert highway in both directions. There are a large number of vehicles stranded on the highway due to the flash floods adding to the miseries of the people. Authorities have pressed drones into service to intensify the search for missing people and to try and assess the extent of damage to infrastructure.

Those who are rescued have been shifted to hospitals. There are reports of generators malfunctioning in many places resulting in power outages and blackouts and workers are trying to restore electricity to these areas.

Jumana Ghuneimat, Jordan's minister of state for media affairs and government spokeswoman, has indicated that the authorities took advance action to keep the people informed about weather conditions. They had used loudspeakers to spread warning messages pertaining to the weather and advised everyone to maintain a safe distance from flooded areas. Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah is worried about the fate of the flood-affected people and wants the authorities to concentrate on rescue operations.
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