Communications and transport in Palestine and Transjordan have been completely disrupted by a three-day tropical storm which is raging here, the government officially announced today.
Rain, wind and hail have made the Hailfa-Jerusalem road impassable. Bridges along the route are washed out and the telephone and telegraph systems are crippled. Only one wire is open between Jerusalem and Haifa.
Both sides of the Jordan are under water and communication between Palestine and Amman, capital of Transjordan, have been interrupted. Government engineers are of the opinion that unhampered communications will not be possible for at least three days.
TOWNS CUT OFF
Emir Abdullah, ruler of Transjordan, was forced to retire to Jericho. The Emir reported that Amman had been badly hit by the
TRANSJORDAN ALSO HIT AS RIVER OVERFLOWS; ABDULLAH FLEES
storm. Traffic is at a standstill and telephone and telegraph lines are dead. Colonel Charles H. F. Cox, British Resident at Amman, also left with the Emir.
There is no way of estimating casualties, the government announced, since all the stricken towns were completely cut off.
The citrus crop, Palestine’s most important crop, appears to have suffered little damage from the storm.
Nablus, all-Arab town, is reported to have been seriously damaged by the storm. In some places water is waist high.
IMMIGRANTS STRANDED
Rail communications between Jaffa and Jerusalem have been interrupted, while the Haifa-Lydda line is washed out in three places with a heavy freight train stranded in deep water near Chedera.
The liner Resolute, which is carrying 300 tourists, was unable to land at Haifa and put back to sea.
Three steamers, which landed 2,000 Jewish immigrants, had the greatest difficulties in landing their passengers. Unable to proceed to their destinations, the helpless immigrants are stranded in Haifa, where they are being temporarily housed in government warehouses.
The flood proved a boon for Jerusalem, which has no modern water supply system and depends on rain water. Half the amount of water used in one year by the city was caught in cisterns.
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