Sisi lauds people, government’s spirit in dealing with bad weather

CAIRO – 13 March 2020: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Friday said the Egyptian government and people have had firm determination in dealing with the recent wave of extremely hard weather disturbances, praising their “strong capability.”

Egyptian governorates have been hit by torrential rain and thunder especially since the early hours of Thursday. Several houses collapsed and trees fell. The state of emergency was declared on Thursday, which was also declared a paid holiday to avoid traffic in the streets.

“The state, with its executive bodies and security institutions, has run a very complex scene in view of climatic conditions not familiar to our country,” President Sisi said in a Facebook post.

Sisi thanked officials and individuals who have been tasked with following up on the situation in the field and working on relieving its severe impact.

“I can only be proud of the well bred quality of the Egyptian people whose individuals showed a spirit of high cooperation, heroism and consolidation, which says clearly: we are together, hand in hand, stronger than anything”

The president also mourned people who lost their lives as a result of bad weather and wished injured persons a speedy recovery.

A 6-year-old child was killed after a huge tree fell on his house due to the bad weather, injuring his mother and the two other brothers in Qena governorate, Upper Egypt on Thursday. Also, seven people in Helwan's 15 May city died when their houses collapsed due to the bad weather.