• 22:34
  • Thursday ,08 January 2015
العربية

Wintry conditions cause damage in Egypt's Alexandria

By-Ahram

Home News

00:01

Thursday ,08 January 2015

Wintry conditions cause damage in Egypt's Alexandria

As a result of the recent stint of wintry conditions plaguing Egypt, a minaret has been blown off of a mosque and a sea-vessel has crashed into a dock of a local port in the coastal city of Alexandria on Wednesday.

Forecasters say the recent wave of cold temperatures and high seas will likely extend into Friday, with temperatures falling to an average low of 5 Celsius (41 Fahrenheit), and rainfall predicted in several towns.
 
Several parts of the Mediterranean city saw heavy rainfall Wednesday with dropping temperatures eventually leading to a blanket of sleet covering the city streets.
 
Parts of the Ibn Khaldoun mosque in the heart of the city fell, with its minaret tumbling over due to the weather conditions, state news agency MENA said.  The incident left no injuries.
 
The high wind speeds also led to a rough surf, causing a container vessel to smash into a dock in the Alexandria Port, doing damage to the quay and containers aboard the ship.
 
Elsewhere on Wednesday, several northern cities saw heavy rainfall accompanied by high-speed winds.
 
At least five Red Sea ports remain closed off for the second day in a row due to the harsh weather, with waves up to 4 metres high, and winds reaching 46 km per hour, a spokesperson of the Red Sea Port Authority told MENA.