Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Minister of Water and Irrigation Ra'ed Abu al-Soud had denied as "baseless" what has been circulating on social media platforms that the flashfloods which claimed the lives of 21 picnickers in the Dead Sea region on Thursday were caused by the opening of the drain system of a nearby dam.

The minister said the Zarqa- Ma'in Dam, built last year, was totally empty of water the day before the tragic incident, adding that Thursday's and Friday's rainfall added 400,000 cubic meters of water to the dam while its overall capacity is 2 million cubic feet.

Speaking at a meeting for an ad hoc committee formed to probe the circumstances of Thursday's incident, the minister explained that the dam is relatively a small one and doesn't have spillways but only a 500mm pipe used on demand to water farmland down the valley. Abu al-Soud said rainfall on Thursday in the Madaba region reached 400ml per hour.

The committee decided to refer the report on the dam to a neutral technical committee comprising representatives of the Engineers Syndicate, the Association of Contractors, experts and companies specialized in water and dams to review and evaluate the report.