Egyptian authorities remove over 281K illegal structures around Nile River amid high flood warnings

CAIRO – 16 October 2020: As many as 281,832 building violations around the Nile River have been removed, a report submitted to the minister of water resources said, after warnings of a higher-than-average annual Nile floods currently taking place.

The minister earlier warned that the illegal buildings lying too close to the Nile is limiting the water network’s capability to contain excess water. Also, the government has warned citizens inhabiting these areas of the danger the floods pose on them.

During the next week of October, the ministry has removed 60 illegal structures, Alaa Khaled, a ministry official said.

In a meeting with officials in September, Abdel Aaty urged removing illegal structures on the Nile’s northern branches of Damietta and Rashid, which he says obstruct the water network’s capability to contain excess water in the times of emergency and during annual Nile floods.

Earlier in September, Egyptian committee concerned with following up on the flow of the Nile River have reviewed procedures to monitor and assess the extent of the Nile flood this year.

The meeting, which was headed by Abdel Aaty, came as part of a series of meetings of the committee to follow up on the situation of rain on the Blue Nile and ways to deal with the flowing water.

The flood of Nile River this year will likely be higher than the average according to the committee affiliated with the Water Resources Ministry last month.

The initial indicators were based on the incoming water flow during August; however, it is still too early to make a final judgment on the type and size of this year’s flood, pending the months of September and October; the Committee said.

According to an official statement issued by the ministry, the committee reviewed the position of the Nile flood, and the measures taken by the Nile Water Affairs Sector and the Ministry's Planning Sector Forecasting Center, including monitoring, analysis and evaluation of the flood situation, and the quantities of water expected to arrive until the end of the current water year 2021-2022.

The statement pointed to the unprecedented high rates of rainfall in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and the high level of water in the waterway, explaining that coordination is taking place Egypt and Sudan in a framework of mutual cooperation, exchanging of data and information, and joint measurements in some measurement stations.