Heavy rainfall accompanying the weather depression over Saturday and Sunday has once again highlighted a recurring crisis in the Zarqa Ma’in area of Madaba Governorate, after flash floods caused collapses on several agricultural and main roads and the partial closure of a number of water-drainage culverts. This led to the cutting off of vital roads and widespread paralysis in vehicle movement.
اضافة اعلان
Field observations showed large quantities of rocks, silt, and soil being swept into culverts, limiting their capacity to accommodate the volume of flowing water. As a result, floodwaters overflowed onto adjacent roads, eroding their edges and causing parts of the asphalt layers to collapse—an image that reflects the fragility of infrastructure in the area.
This situation has cast a heavy shadow over farmers, livestock breeders, and workers in the tourism sector, whose livelihoods depend directly on the accessibility of these roads. Around fifty families in the Zarqa Ma’in area rely on agriculture, livestock breeding, and tourism for their income, making any road closures a direct threat to their livelihoods and economic stability.
Farmer and livestock breeder Osama Al-Mawazreh said that roads leading to the Zarqa Ma’in Valley have become impassable following the collapse of culverts used by residents to cross wadis. He explained that these roads are a vital artery for transporting feed and agricultural equipment and for accessing livestock-rearing sites, and that their closure disrupts daily life and compounds residents’ suffering, especially during emergencies.
Al-Mawazreh noted that the problem recurs with every weather depression due to temporary solutions that fail to withstand heavy rainfall, adding that many culverts are old or not designed to accommodate the volume of water flow in the area.
For his part, tourism investor Khaled Al-Jufairat confirmed that the damage was not limited to the agricultural sector but extended to tourism activity in Zarqa Ma’in, one of Madaba’s أبرز natural destinations. He said that road closures and repeated collapses hinder visitor movement and negatively affect tourism facilities and workers, in addition to harming the area’s image in the eyes of visitors.
In an official response, Head of the Greater Madaba Municipality Committee Engineer Haitham Juwainat stated that the Zarqa Ma’in area does not fall within the municipality’s jurisdiction but lies outside its administrative boundaries. Nevertheless, out of national and humanitarian responsibility, the municipality contributed to reopening the road and alleviating the suffering of residents who had become nearly isolated, preventing them from delivering agricultural produce to markets and supplying feed to their livestock.
In the same context, residents praised the efforts of Madaba Governor Hassan Al-Jbour and Deputy Governor and Qasabat Madaba District Administrator Dr. Ahmad Al-Fauri, affirming that they acted immediately and contacted all relevant authorities to resolve the issue and reopen the road as quickly as possible.
Residents explained that these actions came after repeated attempts to follow up with the Public Works Directorate and municipal engineering departments, where they were informed that the affected area falls under the jurisdiction of the Jordan Valley Authority. This overlap in responsibilities led to delays in on-site intervention, before coordination was eventually established among the concerned entities to address the emergency.
Farmers and investors called on the relevant authorities—foremost among them the Jordan Valley Authority—to intervene urgently and implement permanent solutions to address deficiencies in culverts and roads and prevent the recurrence of such damage with every weather depression. They stressed that Zarqa Ma’in, given its agricultural, tourism, and environmental importance, requires a comprehensive remedy and a sustainable plan for rainwater management and infrastructure protection to ensure public safety and the continuity of livelihoods for dozens of families who depend on the area in their daily lives.
