Heavy rains cause severe flooding in southern Egypt

ByRishav Kothari
aswan egypt satellite image august 8 2024

Image credit: NOAA-20/VIIRS. Acquired on August 8, 2024

Aswan City and other areas in southern Egypt experienced heavy rain and severe flooding, some of it historic, on August 8 and 9, 2024. According to experts, the rains were seasonal and caused by a northward shift in the rain belt.

Aswan City in Upper Egypt faced heavy rainfall on August 9 resulting in severe flooding after the rainwater had collected in the Red Sea mountains and flown down into the valleys.

Aswan’s irrigation officials had to open the flood channels to absorb the water and prevent flooding in the villages and mountainous areas of Abu al-Rish, al-Seel, and east of the city, where accumulated rainwater threatened to inundate homes.

The unstable weather was accompanied by dusty storms leading to the suspension of Nile navigation.

Temperatures and humidity levels remain high, intensifying the heat throughout all regions, despite the rain in the southern part of the country.

The rains were seasonal and were caused by the northward shift of the rain belt, according to Dr. Mohamed Ali Fahim, Head of the Climate Information Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation.

Summer rains have historically occurred in the south of the Red Sea, this year’s prolonged duration and appearance in unusual areas, even if lightly, are unprecedented, added Fahim.

Read more:

Possibility of a rare rain event over southern Egypt

References:

1 Upper Egypt’s Aswan struck by heavy rains – Egypt Today -August 10, 2024

Rishav Kothari is Editor-in-Chief of The Watchers, where he runs the newsroom and covers earthquakes, volcanoes, severe weather and space weather.

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