Khaberni - Residents of the Maadi area, south of Cairo, witnessed a horrifying scene today, Saturday, following the splitting of the ground in one of its main streets.
Immediately after the incident, maintenance teams rushed in and imposed a security cordon around the area to ensure the safety of pedestrians and vehicles. The technical teams worked on restoring the soil in preparation for repaving the area and restoring traffic movement.
The main reason for the subsidence was an explosion in a main water pipe with a diameter of 150 millimeters on Hassanein Desouky Street, which led to the erosion of the soil under the asphalt layer. The water company temporarily cut off service to the surrounding areas to allow technicians to repair.
The Maadi incident is the latest in a series of repeated land subsidence accidents in Egyptian provinces. Among the most notable was one witnessed by drivers on the main road between October and the Oases a few weeks ago, where they saw land subsidence that terrified them.
In January, the area around the Cairo International Book Fair witnessed a land subsidence and a water pipe explosion that caused water to accumulate and disrupted traffic movement. The incident damaged several cars. The Fifth Settlement area in East Cairo and Hurghada in the Red Sea province were on high alert following a sudden land subsidence in both areas weeks ago.
Before that, the Al-Qalaj area in Qalyubia and the Al-Alwa village in the Sindyoon center experienced similar incidents.
On its part, the Egyptian authorities are looking for a solution to the problem and are considering adopting an alternative technical solution that involves creating a drainage network and implementing an integrated system to reduce the groundwater level and linking the extracted water with the main sewage network to address the root causes and prevent their recurrence.
