Sinking Alexandria | God's World News
Sinking Alexandria
Jet Balloon
Posted: November 01, 2019
  • 1 Sinking Alex
    Stanley Beach in Alexandria, Egypt, is compared to a 1933 photo of the same location. (AP)
  • 2 Sinking Alex
    Streets are flooded in Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria. (AP)
  • 3 Sinking Alex
    Concrete barriers strengthen the sea wall near the historic citadel in Alexandria, Egypt. (AP)
  • 4 Sinking Alex
    A fisherman and his cat stand beside one of the giant toy-shaped concrete barriers that were put along Alexandria’s shore to protect against flooding. (AP)
  • 5 Sinking Alex
    People swim and sunbathe at a beach in Alexandria, Egypt. Rising water threatens to flood neighborhoods and ancient history sites. (AP)
  • 1 Sinking Alex
  • 2 Sinking Alex
  • 3 Sinking Alex
  • 4 Sinking Alex
  • 5 Sinking Alex

The ancient city of Alexandria, Egypt, is sinking. And no one can stop it!

Where did artists and scholars go to meet with other thinkers 2,000 years ago? Alexandria, Egypt! It was the largest city in the known world.

Alexandria sits on an isthmus. That piece of land separates Lake Mariout from the Mediterranean Sea. The sea surrounds the city on the other three sides. Earthquakes and floods have taken their toll. Alexandria is sinking between one and three millimeters each year.

Today, upstream dams block the passage of silt from the Nile River. That silt helps to shore up the city. Homes in the el-Max neighborhood have flooded every winter in recent years. 

Fisherman Sayed Khalil lives in el-Max. He says, “All these houses might vanish.” In twenty to thirty years they could be underwater. 

Many of the city’s antiquities are in danger too. Qaitbay Citadel is a fortress. Authorities installed a long line of huge concrete barriers around the citadel. These could halt waves and currents from pushing into the citadel’s foundation.

Egypt’s government has set aside more than $120 million for those barriers and other measures to protect the shore. 

Ashour Abdel-Karim is head of the General Authority for Shores Protection. He says, “Without such barriers, parts of the Corniche (downtown waterfront) and buildings close to the shore would be damaged.” That damage could come at a cost of nearly $25 billion.

Inland sites are also at risk. Catacombs from nearly 2,000 years ago flooded in 2015. Prophet Daniel Street in downtown Alexandria is considered one of the world’s oldest streets. It was closed for a week after that same flood.

You rule the raging sea; when its waves rise, you still them. — Psalm 89:9