Child Dies in Akkar, Schools to Stay Shut as Storm Brings Cold and Snow

The impact of Storm Zina continued to be felt across Lebanon on Thursday, as a cold snap brought unusually low temperatures to the coast and some mountainous towns remained cut off by snow.

All public, private and vocational schools as well as nurseries will remain closed on Friday, the third consecutive day, at the request of the ministers of education and health.

The storm also caused a new casualty overnight, with exposure to cold killing a two-month-old toddler in the Akkar town of Bebnin.

The parents of the girl Salam Jihad Burghol “brought her around 1:45 am to my house for examination and I determined that she died due to cardiac arrest,” the physician Kifah Kassar, who is also Bebnin's municipal chief, told the National News Agency.

“The death might be the result of cold and low temperatures but we cannot verify this in a scientific and accurate manner,” Kassar added.

“When asked whether the child was ill or suffering from any disease, the parents said she was in good health and that she died suddenly. The weeping father said, 'This is what the storm did to us',” the doctor went on to say.

Also in the Akkar district, the storm destroyed the ceiling of a farm owned by Abdul Qader Youssef al-Zohbi.

The collapse killed a large number of chickens at the farm, which is inhabited by a Syrian refugee family, according to the municipal chief of the town of Mashha.

Meanwhile snow blanketed squares, balconies and gardens in the nearby town of Halba.

“The scene was extraordinarily beautiful, especially that snow had not visited Halba in such intensity since more than 65 years,” NNA said.

But snow also brought misery to some towns, with the municipal chief of Akkar's Kaftoun urging authorities, especially the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, to reopen the roads of the town which has been cut off since three days.

In the afternoon, snow started falling again on Akkar, starting from the town of al-Bireh, which lies around 650 meters above sea level.

“Most mountainous roads in the Akkar district have been blocked by snow, with some residential neighborhoods and areas in Mount Akroum totally cut off,” NNA said.

Also in the north, the storm wreaked havoc in the Zgharta region, uprooting advertising banners, tree branches and newly-planted pine trees. It also destroyed wooden huts at some farms and caused damage to crops.

“The Bsharri region remained nearly cut off, although the snow storm has subsided, due to the poor and slow plowing of public roads, amid a power outage that started last Monday,” the agency added.

In the northern region of Batroun, the thickness of the snow exceeded 70 centimeters in the town of Upper Tannourine. The area had witnessed snow at 500 meters above sea level in the morning.

Meanwhile, a thunderbolt hit the Mar Roukoz Church in the Batroun town of Mhamrash, causing damage to the electric wires, the hall and the electric generator.

As for the south, heavy rains caused material damage in the Tyre region, with floodwater invading a number of shops in the town of Qana overnight and inflicting losses worth several thousands of dollars.

The rain also damaged greenhouses and crops, especially at citrus and banana groves.

Also in the south, bulldozers were not able to reopen all roads in the Shebaa region due to the thickness of the snow and the lack of enough vehicles, NNA said.

The storm also cut off the Bekaa and North towns of Ham, Maaraboun, Jinta, Yahfoufa, Aynata and al-Arz, after the thickness of the snow reached more than 80 centimeters.

Y.R.