Jordan snow brings country to a halt but could ease drought

The snow delayed flights, closed roads and downed power lines in and around Amman

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  Fruit-laden trees are weighed down with snow in Amman, Jordan. All pictures: Amy McConaghy / The National

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  People in Amman woke to find Jordan's capital covered in snow on Thursday.

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  Some of the city's streets could only be driven on 'with extreme caution', said officials.

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  The rare snowfall was part of a cold snap in Jordan.

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  Delighted children made snowmen.

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  But the cold weather may worry householders, as electricity bills are set to rise.

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  The snow transformed the city skyline.

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  The wintry blanket brought a new look to familiar views.

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  The snow brought some disruption to travel.

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  Some of Amman's streets were impassable by car.

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  Officials said other routes could only be driven with caution.

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  The main roads to reach vital facilities in Amman are open, a municipal officer said.

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  Many drivers preferred to wait for a thaw before heading out.

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  Some electricity lines, which in Jordan is carried on poles, were downed by the snow.

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  The snow will help to ease a drought in Jordan.

Amman woke on Thursday to a rare blanket of overnight snow that kept people in their homes and blocked roads.

But authorities said it could also help replenish water reserves and ease pressure on severely depleted groundwater in the parched country.

Jordan has suffered prolonged bouts of drought during the past decade. Illegal digging for water for farming has depleted some underground water reservoirs and at least one dam ran dry last year.

The snow and rain should help replenish dams across the mostly desert kingdom, Hatem Al Zubi, deputy director of the National Security and Crisis Centre, said.

They include the 8 million cubic metre Wala Dam south of the capital Amman, which had emptied completely of water, he said.

“We expect it to become full during this wave. It has 2 million cubic metres to go,” Mr Al Zubi told official television.

With ample dam water, farmers will need to rely less on pumped-out groundwater.

Crews in Amman were working to fix downed electricity lines and clear main roads. The municipality described some roads as “driveable with the utmost caution”.

Electricity in Jordan is carried on poles, not through underground cables.

Youssef Al Shawarbeh, a municipal official, said trapped vehicles and falling trees hampered efforts to clear the snow and repair the lines.

“The main roads to reach vital facilities in Amman are open and some are open with caution,” he told official television.

The Meteorological Department said the weather on Thursday was “rainy and cloudy in most areas” with a high of 6°C in Amman and a low of 1°C. It expected temperatures to rise steadily in the next few days to reach 11°C on Sunday.

Queen Alia Airport, the kingdom's main airport south of Amman, announced that eight flights on Thursday were being delayed to allow passengers more time to reach the airport due to difficulties.

The cold weather may come as a worry to householders, as electricity bills are scheduled to rise in April when the authorities will remove power subsidies for middle-class households.

The kingdom’s economy has deteriorated sharply in the past two years and unemployment is at an official record high of 24 per cent.

At the Gaza refugee camp north of Amman, Nisreen and her six children huddled around a kerosene heater on Thursday.

“It snowed lightly and melted quickly, but we're sinking from water from the zinc roof,” she said, referring to the corrugated roof of her home.

Large sections of the camp are neglected and many of its 29,000 residents do not have Jordanian citizenship, unlike most of the millions of people of Palestinian origin in Jordan.

about 600,000 Syrian refugees also live in the kingdom of 10.7 million. Around a fifth of the Syrian refugees live in the Zaatari and Azraq camps in the deserts of north Jordan and are under movement restrictions.

A spokesman for the UN refugee agency said residents had enough blankets and other means to cope with the weather and denied social media reports that a child died from the cold in Zaatari earlier this month.

Snow blankets the Middle East - in pictures

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  A snow-clad village in the Chouf district of Mount Lebanon governorate, about 52km south-east of Beirut. AFP

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  Cedar trees are blanketed in snow in Lebanon. AFP

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  A man walks in the snow in Erbil, Iraq. AP Photo

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  Snow fills the air in Erbil. AP Photo

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  Israel's border with Syria is covered with snow, near the Druze town of Masada. AFP

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  Syrians drive their cars on a street as snow falls over Damascus. AFP

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  A child removes snow from the top of a tent at a camp for internally displaced people in the northern Aleppo countryside, Syria. Reuters

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  A child stands in the snow in Salat Zagrous, a camp for internally displaced people, in northern Syria. EPA

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  A camp for internally displaced people in the town of Raju in the rebel-controlled northern countryside of Syria's Aleppo province. AFP

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  Children at a camp for internally displaced people in Raju have fun in the snow. AFP

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  A windy day in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP

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  Reindeer in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights. AFP

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  The Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights. AFP

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  The Roman ruins at Baalbek in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. AFP

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  Snow-covered houses in the town of Sohmor, western Bekaa, Lebanon. Reuters

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  Amadiyah, a town built 1,400 metres above sea level and located about 75km north of the city of Dohuk, in the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region. AFP

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  Snow-covered mountains around the town of Amadiyah. AFP

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  Iraqi Kurds perform a traditional dance near Safin Mountain, close to the city of Irbil, the capital of Iraq's northern Kurdish autonomous region. AFP

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  Israeli armored corps soldiers, fix their tank chains during snowstorm near the Israel-Syrian border in the annexed Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams. EPA

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  Children slide on the snow at the Kucukcekmece district in Istanbul. AFP

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  A child plays with a cat in a snowy park near of the Suleymaniye mosque in Istanbul. AFP

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  A young Syrian boy clears the snow covering a tent at a camp for internally displaced people, near the city of Jisr al-Shugur on the border with Turkey, in the Idlib governorate of northwestern Syria. AFP