Thursday, October 30, 2008

Surviving Gaza flooding


It was a heavy rain morning when I woke up yesterday and decided to go to work. I live in Khanyounis governorate, in the south district of Gaza Strip; specifically in the north-eastern part of Khanyounis. I woke up early that morning after a very stormy and rainy night. However, I discovered that the heavy rain has just begun when I woke up around 6:45 am.


I could only leave the house after 2 hours when the rain stop. Any way I needed to walk in the flooded streets in my area for 5 minutes in order to reach Salah El-Deen road, which is the main road that connect all Gaza Strip governorates. A cap stopped then to let me ride and start the sailing trip towards Gaza city.





I called it "sailing trip" because I found that the road was completely flooded and huge amount of water waves were flowing over. Many cars were stack in the middle of the small lakes that could be noticed all over the road. Tens of people were waiting along the road to get a cap or a bus so that they could reach their offices, universities, businesses, etc. For me, it was the first time in my life to experience such situation and see such scene. I called many of my friends who work in the field of water and sanitation in the municipalities and other agencies; they were screaming that the situation is completely over their capacities and abilities, taking into account the closure circumstances in Gaza Strip. In all meanings and for the first time in my life, Gaza is slowly sinking and with more rain to come no one knows what would happen.