Snow covers Lebanon and closes off Daher al-Baidar road

A heavy snowfall on the Lebanese heights led to the closure of the Beirut- Damascus international road at Daher al-Baidar point on Wednesday evening.

The Lebanese police said that most of the mountainous routes were closed because of the snow in the areas of Daher al-Baidar, Tarshish, Zahled, al-Qibeyyat, al-Hermel, Ihden, al-Shouf, Kafraya, Dhour al-Shweir, Ahmaj, al-Laqlouq, al-Aqoura, Einata, al-Arz, Eyoun al-Seman, Hadath Baalbeck, Tanourin and Hadath al-Jibbeh.

The Lebanese weather forecasting department said the eastern basin of the Mediterranean is currently under an area of low pressure, and the temperatures will be go down rapidly as of Thursday night to reach zero on the coasts and between 3 and 8 degrees in the mountains and internal areas.

Meanwhile, the director of the Litani river department, Nasser Nasrullah, said the water storage at al-Qaroun lake in the western Bekaa is improving.

In a statement he made on Wednesday evening in Beirut, Nasrullah said the waters of the lake, used to generate electricity for the al-Bekaa district, have reached 48 million cubic meters since the beginning of the current winter season.