The widescale damage left by flash floods in three governorates revives questions about the lack of crisis management plans, reports Mohamed El-Sayed As the dawn mists began to lift on 18 January in the small village of Atef Al-Sadat in the governorate of Northern Sinai, newlyweds Himdan Khalil and his wife found their tiny home swamped with water. They left their belongings behind to flee as the water inside their mud-brick house continued to rise, reaching a metre and a half. "We are used to these floods but the watercourses that drain the floodwater were blocked by newly built chalets and clubs which resulted in the overflow into our homes," Khalil told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The entire village was swamped and most villagers are now homeless"" Khalil's devastated house was one of 3,645 homes destroyed in the governorates of North Sinai, South Sinai and Aswan. The floods left 10 people dead, two missing and 40 injured, according to government estimates. Seventy-two roads were destroyed and 13,000 olive trees uprooted. Sewage treatment stations and Arish hospital were badly damaged and part of the ceiling of Hall No. 2 at Sharm El-Sheikh Airport collapsed. In the southern city of Aswan strong winds overturned 80 high- pressure electricity towers, disrupting power supplies. Initial assessments of the cost of the damage are LE400 million. Several days after the disaster and villagers were still complaining of government inaction and the inadequacy of relief efforts. Despite the fact that President Hosni Mubarak paid a visit to the worst affected areas in Aswan and ordered that the owners of destroyed houses receive LE30,000 in compensation and families of the deceased LE5,000, people complain that no payments have been made. "No villagers have received any of the compensation announced by the government," says Khalil. "Ten days after the floods hit trucks provided by the army are still sucking water from my house," said Khalil's neighbour, Osama Abul-Hassan. "I'm now staying at a friend's house. All I have received so far is a blanket and LE100." Angry at government delays in providing assistance, on 20 January residents of South Sinai blocked the Ras Sidr-Sharm El-Sheikh road with trucks, burnt tyres and threw stones at the police who used tear-gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters. The governors of North and South Sinai and of Aswan insist a plan is in place to re-build devastated houses within 45 days. In addition, the Ministry of Petroleum has pledged to build 40 housing units in Arish and Aswan in addition to providing makeshift shelters to temporarily house the displaced. Flash floods are common in all three governorates. In 1989 floods in Sinai destroyed a 110-kilometre stretch of road. In 1994 the village of Durunka in Upper Egypt was devastated by rain. Given that flooding is far from unusual, why were the precautions necessary to prevent such devastating losses not taken? "It is mismanagement at its peak," says Osama Heikal, a writer specialised in Sinai affairs. "Officials reacted to the flash floods as if they were an unprecedented act of God." Heikal points out that weather forecasters had given ample notice of the possibility of heavy rains in Sinai. "The damage caused by the floods is a reflection of the incompetence of the authorities in taking any action to prevent crises that have been all too easily predicted." Amin El-Qassas of the Wafd Party in Northern Sinai believes, "local authority officials should be held accountable for the destruction of thousands of houses." "They insisted the houses were safe. They appear to have been operating on the untenable assumption that it would not rain for at least 50 years." Khairat Abdullah, a geologist specialised in the management of floods, also blames the relevant authorities. "Two conferences on how to best deal with floods were held in Southern Sinai 20 years ago and they produced recommendations that would have averted last week's disaster," he told the Weekly. "But the recommendations were only implemented in areas like Neama Bay in Sharm El-Sheikh." "Despite the fact the floods were less acute than in the past, lack of maintenance of watercourses and drainage channels saw the rainwater overflow, as well as leading to the loss of 100 million cubic metres of desperately needed water which was flushed into the sea." In a tit-for-tat game of passing the buck the authorities say individuals who constructed houses close to watercourses have only themselves to blame, conveniently ignoring the question of who authorised the building permits in the first place. "Yes, the building of houses close to the watercourses is to blame for the losses but it is the authorities' responsibility to take precautions," says Abdallah. "Our response to crises is always reactive. No precautionary measures are ever implemented," adds Abdallah. In an awkward irony the Council of Ministers was due to hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the building of small dams and construction of new watercourses to minimise the dangers posed by flooding. Once more the case of closing the stable door once the horse has bolted.
