A section of the wall of a house collapsed on a car parked on a street in Moseitbeh, Beirut, due to heavy rains.(Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
The side of a house in Beirut's Moseitbeh area collapsed on the night of Dec. 22 as torrential rains fell on the capital, our local photographer João Sousa reported Sunday morning.
According to a local area resident who was interviewed at the scene of the collapse, the house, located on Othman Ben Affan Street, was in an advanced state of disrepair. It collapsed without anyone being hurt, the local resident said. The falling brickwork did, however, crush a car parked on the road beneath the building. The alleyway on which the house lies remains accessible, despite large pieces of stonework still encroaching on the roadway.
L'Orient Today's efforts on Sunday morning to reach members of the municipal council for comment went unanswered.
Two women walk past the collapse in Moseitbeh. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
The Lebanese capital is home to a large number of old buildings that have been abandoned for various reasons, often including a lack of funding for their restoration.
In October 2020, Parliament passed Law 194, freezing real estate transactions for two years in historic districts destroyed or damaged by the explosion in the port of Beirut on Aug. 4, 2020. The law was subsequently extended for another two years. However, funding is still lacking to enable owners of old houses to restore these buildings.
A closeup of the house, a wall of which collapsed, in Moseitbeh. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
Torrential rains have caused extensive damage across the country this week. A section of the corniche balustrade in Beirut's Raouche area also collapsed, creating a danger point on the seafront promenade, a video posted on X by the Al Jadeed news channel shows.
On Saturday, entire roads were flooded by torrential rains, including the highway at Karantina, at the northern entrance to Beirut; the passengers of two school buses had to be rescued in Kesrouan by the Civil Defense; and four Syrian refugees died in a mudslide in North Lebanon, according to security sources contacted by our correspondent in the region, Michel Hallak.