Winter was short but harsh this year in Lebanon. Cold weather hit Lebanon in late January with heavy rain and thunderstorms, causing floods, strong winds and snow. As a result, many villages across Lebanon experienced road blockages due to accumulated snow, landslides caused by heavy rain and poor infrastructure, and damaged shelters, namely in informal tented settlements.
The socio-economic crisis in Lebanon, and the financial hardship and sharp increase in the prices of basic goods, including fuel for heating, made it increasingly difficult this winter for vulnerable Lebanese and refugees to stay afloat.
Across the Bekaa region, strong winds blew hard on frail refugee tents, which are largely made of wooden poles and plastic tarpaulins. Snow rose to over 1.5 meters and heavy rains poured, resulting in flooded shelters and damaged roofs.
“We did not sleep at all during the nights,” said Mariam, a refugee mother who lives in one of the informal settlements in the Bekaa Valley, “our room was flooded, our carpets and blankets soaked”.
Having limited resources, refugees in remote areas had to go to great lengths to try to keep their shelters warm. Many were forced to make difficult decisions to keep their families protected.
Often, heavy rains result in flooding inside and outside tents, and keeping belongings dry becomes a priority. Some families place plastic boxes on the flooded floor and place their belongings on top to keep them off the ground and away from the water. Others use building blocks and place wooden boards on top of them, creating a structure than then serves as a makeshift bed above ground-floor level.
Refugees woke up to snow-covered shelters when snowstorms hit. Since the beginning of the storms this year, most refugees had to wipe the snow off of the roofs of their tents, and water inside their shelters for days, using whatever basic tools they have at hand: shovels, buckets, sticks, or their bare hands.
“My son was crying from the cold, so I took my jacket and covered him. I then used buckets as chairs for me and my children to sit on,” said Mariam.
Fatmeh Ibrahim, another refugee woman in the Bekaa, described what it’s like trying to survive a storm in a flooded tent. “There is water coming in from all sides. I was scared that the tent would collapse any minute.” The only solution she had was to use her children’s clothes, which she placed on the edge of the tent to soak up water, and put a tray under the openings in the roof of the tent to catch the drops of water.
To respond to the urgent needs during the storms, UNHCR and partners mobilized their emergency response teams to provide emergency assistance and core relief items for those affected by the storms.
Before winter hit refugees hard, UNHCR distributed seasonal cash assistance to 273,000 families to help them cover essential needs, including fuel to stay warm, medicine to treat winter-related diseases, and warm clothing.
“With the winter assistance, I bought some fuel for the stove and some warm clothes for my three children and boots so that they can go to school despite the elements,” said Syrian mother Fatmeh, who herself suffers from a health condition that gets aggravated by the cold temperatures. “I’ve saved some money to buy the medicine I need, which now costs five times what it used to cost a year ago.”
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