High winds cause damage across Jordan

AMMAN — Strong winds that exceeded 112 kilometres per hour on Thursday and Friday damaged properties and ripped off trees and branches, blocking some roads, authorities and people said on Saturday.

The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) has addressed 130 complaints of fallen trees over the weekend, according to a municipality official.

"High winds on Thursday and Friday caused several trees to fall and ripped off branches, some of which either fell over parked cars damaging them or blocking streets," the official told The Jordan Times.

The agriculture directorate in GAM addressed 130 complaints between Thursday and Friday, he said, indicating that 80 per cent of the removed fallen trees and branches were inside schools and home yards.

"Some of the fallen trees caused electricity cuts because they damaged power cables and poles," he noted.

The municipal official said that GAM's eight teams worked around the clock to remove fallen trees and debris that blocked some streets, noting that citizens also helped out.

Hamzah Rabayah, a social worker for an NGO, said that he watched strong winds on Thursday night break a big branch that fell in the middle of the street, blocking traffic.

"My friend and I were driving the car near the Seventh Circle on Thursday night, when we saw strong winds ripping off a huge branch. The branch fell and blocked most of the road, so my friends and I stopped the car and dragged it to the sideway," Rabaya said.

The depression and the polar front that caused high winds also brought heavy precipitation that inundated streets and caused flashfloods in different parts of the country.

The Civil Defence Department (CDD) said on Saturday that it has responded to 95 cases involving rainwater submerging houses.

"The CDD has also rescued scores of people who were snowbound or whose vehicles became trapped in flashfloods in different parts, mainly in low-lying areas," a CDD official told The Jordan Times.

The CDD personnel have also performed two deliveries in ambulances, the official said, noting that the extreme weather over the weekend did not results in fatalities.