The Red Sea Ports Authority closed four sea ports in Suez and Port Said governorates on Thursday due to extreme bad weather conditions, Ahram Arabic website reported.

The closed ports are El-Sokhna, El-Adabiya, Petroleum and Port Tawfik.

According to Ports Authority spokesperson Malek Youssef, a state of emergency was declared in six Red Sea ports in the three governorates of Suez, Red Sea and South Sinai due to heavy downpour and strong winds.

Late Wednesday and early Thursday, heavy rains flooded several governorates in the Red Sea and Upper Egypt regions.

Social media users on Facebook and Twitter have shared videos and photos of thunderstorms and heavy rain which left highways flooded in South Sinai, Suez and Red Sea governorates.

Suez Security Directorate closed all El-Ain El-Sokhna highways to traffic due to flooding.

Civil defence workers laboured to drain flooded streets in the city of Hurghada using water vacuum trucks.

The highway between Qena and Red Sea governorate was also closed for several hours on Thursday due to heavy rain and flooding.

In South Sinai, Governor Khaled Fouda declared a state of emergency as rain flooded the Firan valley.

On Tuesday, Egypt's meteorological authority announced that Egypt would witness unstable weather conditions with cloudy skies and heavy rains all over the country, especially in Upper Egypt, Sinai and the Red Sea mountains starting Wednesday and continuing through Friday.

Upper Egypt and Red Sea mountainous areas witness heavy rain annually in late October and early November.


https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/246751.aspx