An Egyptian lawmaker Saturday lashed out at the Government's tackling of the flooding repercussions, slamming measures to help residents of the stricken areas as haphazard and citing lack of governmental preparedness to handle such a crisis. A three-day heavy rainfall hit North and South Sinai, Aswan and the Red Sea governorate, killing 15 and leaving hundreds homeless after more than 500 houses collapsed mainly in the southern Egyptian province of Aswan. "Tackling flooding repercussions by the Government is nothing but a complete failure. It proved a haphazard process," independent MP Moustafa Bakri said. Bakri, originally an Upper Egyptian who ran elections in a Helwan constituency, added that the daft administration of the flooding crisis from local governors' side was to blame. "Despite having a previous idea about the flooding, governors did not take any actions until things became worse," he told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview by telephone. The chief of the Egyptian Meteorological Authority had earlier said that his department sent cables to local governors last Saturday warning them against bad weather during the next three days. The lawmaker pointed out the Cabinet stood away from the crisis, except for holding an operations panel that hold one meeting. Bakri lauded efforts by the Armed Forces, which helped absorb the rain water, aid the homeless and rescue those rapped by floods. "Unless the Army moved quickly for help, the losses could have doubled or tripled," said Bakri, the editor-in-chief of el-Usboa independent daily. President Hosni Mubarak had visited the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh and Aswan, where he ordered LE25,000 compensation for the homeless and instructed the Government to build new homes for them. Police employed tear gas and rubber bullets last week in order to disperse residents in a Sinai town hit hard by flooding in the area and a perceived lack of governmental preparedness in assisting the people in the area.
