Tourist Routes Reopen at the Ancient Site of Petra

After flash floods that swept through the UNESCO world-heritage site earlier in the week, tourist routes were reopened at Petra in southern Jordan.

Joyce Karam, a Middle Eastern news website Al-Monitor posted a video on social media showing water falling down cliffs and turning into a river in the tourist area's walkways.

According to a spokesperson for the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority: "The site is in excellent condition and tourists have been visiting the site as usual since yesterday morning [Dec. 27,]".

Officials from the authority posted a Facebook statement stating that they "periodically maintain the early-alarm floods system and operate approximately nine monitoring stations that measure water height."

Raed Al-Khattab is the director of Jordanian Meteorology. He stated that Petra's topography "helps floods [to form]" and that the area received 80 millimetres of rain in certain parts. This amount is considered to be large.

Although it is not clear if the flash floods caused permanent damage to the site, Karam wrote that Petra dates back to approximately 3,000 B.C. It has remained untouched by natural and human disasters. The structure is not at risk from the current storm.

According to the BBC, more than 20 people died in flooding in the region in 2018.

Petra is well-known for its intricate tomb facades, which were carved into the sandstone cliffs by the Nabataeans in the first century B.C. The fourth century. The site was the main stop on the incense-and aromatics trade routes. In 2003, UNESCO added it to its World Heritage List.

 

Source: breakingtravelnews.com