CAIRO: Egypt Prime Minister Sherif Ismail admitted the government’s failure to handle the recent heavy rainfall in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, Youm7 reported.
“The amount of rainwater fell over several parts of Alexandria during the past two days was out of our expectations. Preparations to deal with such amount of rain were not enough,” Youm7 quoted Ismail.
Alexandria has been hit with heavy rains since Saturday leaving pools of rain water accumulated in its streets. At least seven were killed Sunday in incidents related to weather.
An estimated 3.4 million cubic meters of water poured down on the city, the capacity of the sewage network does not exceed 1.4 million cubic meters, spokesperson for the Drinking water and Sanitation Holding Company Mohy el-Serafy told Youm7.
The government was criticized for what social media users found as “poor” handling of the crisis.
Alexandria Governor Hani el-Messiry submitted his resignation Sunday to the Cabinet, after the flooding crisis; the cabinet approved it.