The lives of at least 18 people, mostly schoolchildren, were lost on Thursday due to flashfloods that swept the Dead Sea area, in an incident that could have been easily averted. Other schoolchildren were still missing by press time.

This is a tragedy that could have been avoided with some common sense on the part of the concerned authorities and the private school that sent the children on a trip on a day when dusty weather conditions and heavy rains were expected.

To start with, there were repeated warnings of flashfloods and slippery roads over the past days in neighbouring countries, but not in Jordan.

The concerned authorities — usually the Civil Defence and the Jordan Meteorological departments — issue warnings ahead of adverse weather conditions, particularly in cases that might involve expected flashfloods or slippery roads, as happened on Thursday, and when expecting heavy snowfall and frost formation.

None of these repeated warnings were issued by official media, something that should raise some question marks. Had such warnings been made, certainly many parents would not have agreed to send their children on Thursday morning on such a trip.

In addition, it has become common sense for all to beware of flashfloods, especially during the first rains of the season, which were forecast by the Jordan Meteorological Department a few days earlier. This time rains were forecast without the usual warnings and the fanfare that accompany adverse weather conditions.

According to documents made available to The Jordan Times, the school received a permission to organise a trip to Azraq in the northeastern desert, but the school had other plans and went ahead with a trip to the Dead Sea area. Organisers committed this violation because of the lack of proper warnings.

It was a bad decision on the part of the private school in Amman, whose students died or went missing, to have the trip on such a day, and a lapse on the part of the Ministry of Education not to ask schools to cancel all trips during such conditions, particularly that the desert areas, including Azraq, have received their share of adverse weather conditions and road closures as a result of dust storms and rain.

It is a pity that our country, which always welcomes precipitation in all its forms due to the chronic lack of water, welcomes the rainy season with such a tragedy.

We pray for those who died, for their parents and beloved ones, and pray that all the missing ones will be found safe, soon, by personnel from various state agencies, including the armed forces and the Civil Defence Department, whose officers will be spending sleepless hours trying to save lives. We wish them good luck in their mission.

At the same time, we call for better mechanisms and communication strategies to avert such disasters away from the public relations machine that is usually used to announce the authorities’ well-preparedness for the winter season.