Severe storms force evacuations, flood homes in 5 Syrian provinces

Severe storms swept across five Syrian provinces Saturday, forcing families to evacuate, flooding dozens of homes and blocking roads as authorities mounted a wide emergency response, according to media reports.

Syria Alikhbaria TV cited the Emergency Ministry, which said heavy rain and strong winds caused water accumulation, fallen trees and walls, landslides and stranded vehicles.

Emergency teams carried out 58 operations in five provinces, including 35 in Latakia, 10 in Idlib, five each in Homs and Hama, and three in Aleppo.

The ministry said 20 families were affected by the severe weather, while three others were evacuated.

Teams pumped rainwater from 43 homes and reopened 56 blocked roads. They also cleared drains and waterways, removed fallen trees and debris, dealt with landslides and assisted stranded vehicles.

The severe weather also disrupted electricity supplies in Homs province, where more than 20 medium-voltage power lines were knocked out of service, Syria Alikhbaria TV reported, citing the Homs General Electricity Company.

The outages affected Taldu, Al-Mukharram, Shin, Talkalakh, Palmyra and other parts of the province.

The Emergency Ministry warned Wednesday that unstable weather would affect the country from Friday afternoon through late Monday, bringing heavy thunderstorms.