If you live in Beirut, it’s easy to forget that there is a river running along its periphery, separating it from its Eastern Suburbs of Bourj Hammoud and Sin el Fil.

To be fair, most days of the year, the river is dry. Only during winter time and beginning of spring does the water flow in it.

And technically speaking, it’s not a river anymore, it’s a concrete canal, as it was transformed in 1968.

But it was not designed to take into account what is called the 1000 years flood, an exceptional occurrence: “The water will reach a height of 7m, explains Sandra Frem, who wrote a thesis on the subject, but the maximum height of the canal in the city is of 5 m”. That day, the neighborhoods of Burj Hammoud and Karantina will be flooded.

For the record, Beirut River was a source of clean water and a place of leisure for the Romans and Ottomans alike, which integrated it into their urban planning. Today, it’s unfortunately only a place of sewage and trash.