20 Dead Across Egypt Due to Bad Weather: PM

Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli announced on Friday that about 20 person passed away across Egypt due to the bad weather, stressing that Egypt had not witnessed such unstable weather conditions for nearly 35 or 40 years.

While heading the Crisis Management Chamber at the headquarters of the Information and Decision Support Center, the Egyptian PM said that a number of measures have been taken, most notably "stopping the movement of trains and the metro yesterday (Thursday), especially after the train accident that occurred in order to preserve the lives of citizens.”

The movement of ships, especially those coming from the Suez Canal to northern regions, was also stopped due to the strong winds, according to the official Facebook page of the Egyptian Cabinet.

[caption id="attachment_115312" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Egypt PM Moustafa Madbouli[/caption]

Madbouli added: "We need to re-plan some of the drainage networks to absorb the water resulting from such exceptional circumstances, especially with the current climate changes in Egypt.”

In addition, he instructed all the governors to announce tomorrow, Saturday, a paid leave to schools and universities students and teaching staffs, so that the concerned authorities can deal with the effects and consequences of the heavy rains.

The Egyptian prime minister stated that there is "complete coordination between all state apparatuses to confront these exceptional circumstances which are deemed unprecedented in the history of modern Egypt, due to their occurrence in all parts of the Republic and not like the previous in a particular region."

[caption id="attachment_115210" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Dire Weather Holds for Second Day in Egypt: EMA[/caption]

He pointed out that the Minister of Irrigation "confirmed that Egypt had not witnessed such unstable weather for nearly 35 or 40 years.”

Madbouli thanked all workers in various state apparatuses for the great effort in dealing with these exceptional climatic conditions, and for the armed forces in all their apparatuses, for their great effort in the various governorates, and for leaving all machines and equipment to be used freely by the state concerned authorities, and for the Egyptian police for their great efforts and continuous presence in the streets.