Senate criticizes lack of climate readiness after Alexandria storm
The Egyptian Senate dedicated its general session on Monday to examining the impacts of climate change and desertification, focusing on the vulnerability of coastal regions and the need to protect nature reserves.
Senate Speaker Abdel Wahab Abdel Razek delivered a pointed critique of institutional complacency.
“We are still absent from the scene,” he said. “We approach these issues as though they are a matter of luxury, even though the reality has caught up with us.”
The session followed a sudden and severe storm that struck Alexandria Saturday. The city was hit by powerful winds and torrential rain that flooded streets, damaged infrastructure, and brought traffic to a halt for hours.
Social media users shared images of submerged vehicles in the Sidi Bishr underpass, collapsed billboards, and structural damage in the Camp Shizar neighborhood. Eyewitnesses told Al-Manassa that balconies had collapsed and windows were shattered by the high winds.
During the session, MPs stressed that existing legislation is insufficient to meet the growing threat of climate change. Abdel Razek called for a review of environmental laws in line with international standards and urged the adoption of comparative legal models to better protect natural reserves and coastal zones.
Meanwhile, Republican People’s Party bloc leader Ehab Wahba questioned whether the storm was linked to global climate patterns, prompting MP Mahmoud El-Kott to submit a request for public discussion on the Ministry of Environment's climate adaptation plans.
“What happened in Alexandria is not a passing anomaly—it’s a clear sign of accelerating climate disruption,” El-Kott said. He warned that rising temperatures are destabilizing weather patterns, increasing the risk of floods and extreme events, particularly in the Mediterranean basin, which is warming faster than the global average.
El-Kott called on the government to publish its plans for early warning systems, sustainable coastal protections, and legislative coordination among ministries.
Wafd Party bloc leader Tarek Abdel Aziz said the Senate had “flashed the red light” to executive authorities. “We’re still living under laws weighed down by sandbags, while the world is advancing with smart, adaptive legislation,” he said.
On his end, Deputy Speaker Bahaa Abu Shaqqa called current laws “obsolete and ineffective,” and proposed the creation of an independent authority for nature reserves, a unified climate law, and legal reforms aligned with Egypt’s international obligations under the blue economy. Scientists warn of structural risk
NASA scientist Essam Heggy also weighed in on the storm, criticizing what he described as a dismissive attitude toward scientific evidence.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Heggy warned that “storms are becoming more intense and less predictable due to a number of climate variables,” and that failure to act on this knowledge would lead to “more building collapses and urban vulnerabilities.”
He accused some public voices of misleading decision-makers and downplaying the science behind increasingly volatile weather.
As a response to the Egyptian Meteorological Authority not issuing any statements about the severe weather in Alexandria and parts of the Mediterranean coast, MP Ayman Mohseb submitted a parliamentary question to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Local Development, and the head of the Meteorological Authority regarding the lack of advance warnings to residents and the failure of authorities to prepare for sudden weather changes.