Power Is Back On in El Quseir, and Forecasters Say More Storm Cells Are Building Over the Red Sea

Electricity has begun coming back on in the parts of El Quseir that lost it during Friday's dawn storm, Sada El Balad reports. The supply was cut deliberately as the rain arrived — a precaution to protect residents and the electrical installations themselves — and is being restored district by district under the normal technical procedures, with the grid checked as each section comes back.

Hurghada News reported earlier on Friday that the town had lost power and that pumps were clearing water from six parts of town.

The rain fell between moderate and heavy in the early hours of Friday 9 October, with thunder and lightning, according to Youm7, which also reported warnings of possible flash floods in the wadis. Mains water stopped in the early morning. The Red Sea Drinking Water and Sanitation Company sent vehicles and crews to pump standing water out of several districts — work Ahram Gate reported as well — after its head, Major-General Bahaa Abdel Moneim Sayed al-Ahl, ordered equipment to the affected areas.

The company says it remains on a declared emergency footing, according to Youm7:

• round-the-clock shift working in every city in the governorate
• crisis and emergency teams in the field in El Quseir, under the branch manager
• vehicles and equipment held ready for immediate call-out

It may not be over yet

Late on Friday morning the Egyptian Meteorological Authority said satellite images showed rain-bearing cumulus beginning to grow over parts of the Red Sea Governorate and South Sinai, with thundery cloud developing over the southern Gulf of Aqaba, and warned of lightning strikes and wind activity. El Watan reports that the Red Sea low will shape the weather over 72 hours.

For residents and for anyone on the coast this weekend, the warnings relayed by Youm7 point inland rather than at the seafront: the mountainous areas and the dry valleys are where water runs, and officials asked people to follow official weather bulletins and instructions. None of the reports gives a figure for how many homes lost power, any assessment of damage, or any report of injuries.