UNRWA Declares State of Emergency in Gaza After Torrential Rains Flood Homes

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has declared a state of emergency in Gaza, after torrential rains over the last two days are forcing several hundred Gaza City residents out of their homes due to heavy flooding.

UNRWA's Director of Operations, Robert Turner, speaking from Gaza , as reported by The Jerusalem Post, said: "We are very concerned about such severe storms this early in the season and on the back of unprecedented damage and destruction caused by the recent conflict.

"We are particularly concerned for those families still seeking adequate shelter and preparing for the winter months, and for the impact the flooding is already having on children unable to attend school."

While no injures have been reported so far, Turner said the areas mostly affected by the floods are around the Sheikh Radwan lagoon.

Seeing the rising waters, UNRWA has shut down its school in Gaza City, where enrolment stands at 65,000 students. An estimated 43 other schools have been closed down in the northern part of the coastal territory.

Nihad Al-Mughani, head of the engineers office in Gaza's municipal council said: "As a result of the heavy rain, the water moved from all over the city to this pool of Shiekh Radwan which is flooded now and the pumps cannot work properly to empty the pool quickly.

"So as a solution and to prevent the floods from covering the area we are making a pool in this land."

Gaza City residents have so far braved through the flooding. In one area, residents made way through knee-deep water with a bursting sewage system.

The Israel-Gaza conflict earlier this year took a major toll on Gaza City infrastructure with an estimated 20,000 homes reportedly destroyed or damaged in the Israeli offensive.