Tunisia - Nabil Zaghdoud
Snowfall in Tunisia isolates several northern cities
Heavy snowfall led to isolation of several Tunisian cities, especially in the north-west border region of Algeria. Snow reached 36 cm thickness in Thala of Kasserine and 20 cm in Ain Draham
of the state of Jendouba.
Large quantities of snow fell at El-Kef province without disrupting traffic, Saturday morning, however, meteorological sources forecast continuation of snowfall until next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, residents of these areas call on the government to help, by interfering and breaking their isolation, as the snow caused serious landslides and cut off of some roads – mainly Tabarka and Ain Draham – and several poor rural areas.
Ministry of Equipment and Housing said that the Department of Forestry and Civil Protection is not able to remove the snow due to the shortage of equipments, stressing that its basic role was limited to removing snow from the main roads.
Local Natural Disaster Relief Committee said that it is running an open meeting to prevent this disaster from affecting traffic and supplying the essential needs for fuel and food.
The region is experiencing a very cold weather, where the National Institute of Meteorology forecasts the temperature to be dropped down three degrees Celsius below zero and to range between two and four degrees for the rest of the regions across the country, in addition to the continuous snowfall at the highlands.