‘Weekend rainfall channels 4.5m cubic metres of water into dams’

AMMAN — Weekend rainfall channelled around 4.5 million cubic metres (mcm) of water into dams around the Kingdom, Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) Secretary General Saad Abu Hammour said Saturday.

The major dams currently hold some 145mcm of their total capacity of 325mcm, Abu Hammour told The Jordan Times. 

He added that the Wadi Shuaib Dam received around 1.4mcm of the rainfall, constituting the largest amount of water recorded in any of the country’s dams over the past two days.

Abu Hammour said the amount of water from the rainfall is “normal”, noting that all governorates did not witness precipitation over the weekend, only Amman and Salt, and some other remote areas around Jordan.

Heavy rain last Thursday led to the formation of flash floods in the capital’s streets, which blocked tunnels and caused damage to shops and houses.

Four people, including two children, died in the floods.

The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) attributed the floods to the capital’s hilly topography and the intensity of the thunderstorm

Noting that “Amman has not seen such torrential rain in decades,” a GAM official said that around 40 millimetres of rain fell during the 45-minute downpour and the manholes were unable to absorb such large quantities. 

He added that water levels rose rapidly and the volume of rainwater in the streets was beyond the capabilities of GAM and other concerned authorities.