I wish there was somewhere to see all the previous departure dates so I could calculate stuff like that. Unfortunately, Tauck and most, if not al,l re-sellers immediately delete departures from the list once the tours have commenced. I used to but no longer make a copy of the full listing for a year.
Can you imagine what rain like that would have been like in Petra? Shades of the flash floods they had several years ago. Or what if climate change results in similar weather in Cairo (Giza/Saqqara/Dahshur) where the mastaba tombs and many smaller (rubble) pyramids are made primarily from mud bricks?!?!?
Some sections actually used clay "pipe." I don't know which segments were the most dangerous, but in 2018 flash floods in Jordan killed 11 people and forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 tourists from the ancient city of Petra! Google it!
There were flash floods in the adjacent town of Wadi Musa (4 meters (12') deep!), near the entrance of the Siq, in front of Qasr Al Bint (Temple of Dushares(?) near the Basin Restaurant (at time 0:11 - 0:17), and in the Siq (time 0:24).
Supposedly the actual level of the street of facades from the Treasury down to the basin is many feet below its current level due to flash floods and sand storms filling it up.
We arrived in Wadi Musa on Friday the 13th (should have been a clue!) of March 2020. We were scheduled go to to the Petra ruins the morning of the 14th. I was awaked around 1:00 a.m. by a siren, that at first I thought was a fire alarm. At breakfast on Saturday, we learned that it was a flood alert. The streets of Wadi Musa were filled with water. The ruins were closed because of the flooding. As a group (the 9 of us who remained on the tour, plus the Tour Director and local guide), we decided to stay in Wadi Musa that night and go to the ruins the next day, cutting short our time at the ruins. That afternoon, we learned that the government had closed all tourist sites because of Covid. We wound up not staying in Wadi Musa that night, having a very somber farewell dinner at the hotel, when many of us were trying to arrange earlier flights home because of the announced closing of Amman's airport in 2 days, and heading to Amman after dinner, where I spent 3 hours in the hotel before leaving at 3:00 a.m. for a 6:00 a.m. flight. All of which is to say, although not at the level of the major floods in 2018, flooding at the ruins is probably common.
MCD - That's a story that will live in infamy in your travel annals. Hopefully you never have to experience anything like that again. The Travel Gods owe you one! Continued safe travels.
Wow! I was supposed to leave for Egypt on March 12th 2020 and have wondered when happened to those who were on tour then. Closing of the worlds airports was bad enough, but to add a flood to your experience must have been surreal.
Comments
I wish there was somewhere to see all the previous departure dates so I could calculate stuff like that. Unfortunately, Tauck and most, if not al,l re-sellers immediately delete departures from the list once the tours have commenced. I used to but no longer make a copy of the full listing for a year.
Can you imagine what rain like that would have been like in Petra?
Shades of the flash floods they had several years ago. Or what if climate change results in similar weather in Cairo (Giza/Saqqara/Dahshur) where the mastaba tombs and many smaller (rubble) pyramids are made primarily from mud bricks?!?!?
AlanS - You don't think Petra's water system would handle it.
Notice the 'aqueduct' system on the both sides of the Siq in the pictures below
Some sections actually used clay "pipe." I don't know which segments were the most dangerous, but in 2018 flash floods in Jordan killed 11 people and forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 tourists from the ancient city of Petra! Google it!
AlanS - Some of the scenes in the video showed the flooding down through the stable areas of Petra, which are just past the entrance.
Additionally, and perhaps more damaging the water came down side canyons, like in the picture below.
The main walk at Petra reminded a little of The Narrows at Zion NP. There are regularly flash floods, and unfortunately, deaths there.
There were flash floods in the adjacent town of Wadi Musa (4 meters (12') deep!), near the entrance of the Siq, in front of Qasr Al Bint (Temple of Dushares(?) near the Basin Restaurant (at time 0:11 - 0:17), and in the Siq (time 0:24).
Supposedly the actual level of the street of facades from the Treasury down to the basin is many feet below its current level due to flash floods and sand storms filling it up.
We arrived in Wadi Musa on Friday the 13th (should have been a clue!) of March 2020. We were scheduled go to to the Petra ruins the morning of the 14th. I was awaked around 1:00 a.m. by a siren, that at first I thought was a fire alarm. At breakfast on Saturday, we learned that it was a flood alert. The streets of Wadi Musa were filled with water. The ruins were closed because of the flooding. As a group (the 9 of us who remained on the tour, plus the Tour Director and local guide), we decided to stay in Wadi Musa that night and go to the ruins the next day, cutting short our time at the ruins. That afternoon, we learned that the government had closed all tourist sites because of Covid. We wound up not staying in Wadi Musa that night, having a very somber farewell dinner at the hotel, when many of us were trying to arrange earlier flights home because of the announced closing of Amman's airport in 2 days, and heading to Amman after dinner, where I spent 3 hours in the hotel before leaving at 3:00 a.m. for a 6:00 a.m. flight. All of which is to say, although not at the level of the major floods in 2018, flooding at the ruins is probably common.
MCD - That's a story that will live in infamy in your travel annals. Hopefully you never have to experience anything like that again. The Travel Gods owe you one! Continued safe travels.
Wow! I was supposed to leave for Egypt on March 12th 2020 and have wondered when happened to those who were on tour then. Closing of the worlds airports was bad enough, but to add a flood to your experience must have been surreal.