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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Recent heavy rains caused flash floods across the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, forcing authorities to close the gates of the famed Petra ruins to tourists who were soggy and surly from the downpour.

The iconic site boasts gargantuan temples, canals and statues carved into red cliff walls nearly 2,000 years ago by Al-Anbat, an ancient Arab culture now known as the Nabateans. But on that day, water surged dangerously fast past the ruins.

Yet still, a handful of adventurous tourists heard the siren call of the ancients, and struck out nine kilometres north to Petra's smaller sister site, Little Petra.

Once, these sites were watering holes on the punishing desert route of traders laden with goods to the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Now, tourists travel the world to see the temples and hike the Nabatean routes recently connected to a 600-kilometre path called the Jordan Trail.

At Little Petra's entrance, locals sold plastic ponchos and umbrellas to bands of shivering tourists. White mist poured over the mountains, obscuring the temples inside into "the cold canyon", Little Petra's name in Arabic, Siq al-Barid.

A thin, submerged footpath through a crack in the rock was the only way in.

During the storm, a calm silence resounded but for the rain's patter, the howling wind and visitors' giggles and splashing.

*nzherald