By Tom Westcott.
Tripoli, 30 November 2013:
Tripoli has been hit by 24 hours of stormy weather causing flooding in parts of the . . .[restrict]capital, a city-wide power cut this morning and playing havoc with the country’s already poor mobile phone networks.
Much of the capital experienced power cuts of varying lengths this morning, which Deputy Electricity Minister Mohammed Ali Ekhlat said were caused by a technical problem. “It is because of the rain, not shortages in capacity of networks,” he said.
Heavy rains last night had petered out today, leaving huge puddles in the roads. As the weather worsened again this evening, with a violent storm, standing water swelled into flooding in many areas of the capital, which has inadequate drainage systems to deal with such weather.
There have been reports of particularly severe flooding in Janzour, with roads impassable due to severe flooding and abandoned cars half-submerged in deep water. The Siraj roundabout was also flooded.
The Libya 4×4 club has posted a message, which is being circulated on Facebook, putting forward the telephone numbers of ten members, who can be called for emergency first aid and rescue services in flooded areas of Tripoli.
This evening National Directorate of Security called on all citizens to take care because of the heavy rain and to call 193 in case of an emergency. [/restrict]
