Flooded Sfax Thursday, September 19, 2013. Photo courtesy Facebook.
Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city, was submerged by floodwaters Thursday, raising concerns about the state of the community’s infrastructure.
“People were afraid for their children who went to school,” said Hedi Boujemaa of the UGTT union office in Sfax.
“Yesterday was a bleak gloomy picture, a hard day,”
“Many crowds of young students and citizens were wading through water. Many institutions did not function and means of transportation did not work,” he added.
Heavy rains and strong winds caused the flooding, and the city’s drainage system backed up, according to state news agency TAP. Traffic was nearly paralyzed, raising the ire of Sfax commuters.
Water management authorities were unable to deal with the deluge, and members of the security forces had to assist in efforts to pump water out of affected areas, radio station Mosaique FM reported.
Boujemaa blamed the current and former governments for failing to prevent such disasters in Sfax.
“It’s been known for many years that the infrastructure is not sufficient for changing weather conditions, and this has been the case since the former regime. The old regime and the current government have not taken practical and studied measures to protect the city,” he said.
Boujemaa added that the national government, and specifically the Ministry of Equipment and Environment, did not adequately maintain the Sfax infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing city. This has led citizens to lose trust in the government, he said.
Tunisia Live was unable to obtain a reaction from the municipal government in Sfax.
Flooding also affected the western city of Kasserine yesterday, where some areas were under 4.8 centimeters of water, according to TAP.
Asma Smadhi contributed reporting.
- See more at: http://www.tunisia-live.net/2013/09/20/floods-paralyze-sfax-locals-blame-failed-infrastructure/#sthash.HH8ZeHv4.dpuf
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