What do you expect from a storm? The first is heavy rain, thunder, and then it can end in a flash flood. But if it’s a storm in the desert, it doesn’t stop there.
Earlier this week, after a major storm swept through the Aswan region in southern Egypt, it severely damaged more than 100 residential areas, flooding streets, uprooting trees and leaving some areas vulnerable power-off.
But storms have also engulfed hollows in the desert, a rare phenomenon that is likely to become more common in an era of climate change. The juice of the scorpions runs out of their burrows in search of higher ground.
During that migration, thousands of scorpions ran through villages on the mountainside. They enter homes through window cracks and wall cracks. In just one night, 503 people were bitten, hundreds were hospitalized and 3 died.
The Aswan city government then distributed more than 3,000 doses of antivenom to local hospitals and clinics to treat scorpion bite victims. They also prepare for worse scenarios in the future, when raging floods, like those described in the Bible, continue to bring scorpions over human habitation.
Arabian fat-tailed scorpions: Assassins from the desert
As a country with vast deserts, Egypt is a paradise for scorpions. Statistics show that up to 31 different species of scorpions live here. They were the oldest inhabitants of North Africa, so much so that two Egyptian kings were named after the scorpion.
Scorpions also appear in many Egyptian myths and pyramid drawings. Their moon goddess Isis in an accident was saved by 7 scorpions. Serket, the Egyptian goddess of nature, also had the body of a scorpion
Normally, scorpions share living spaces independently of humans. They hide in the desert rocks far away from human settlements and can stay there for weeks without food or water.
Conflicts are rare, and if they do occur usually only in the summer when scorpions tend to be most active. They roam the streets, hiding under rocks and breaking into houses, nestled in shoes and under blankets.
“If we see scorpions, we just hit them with whatever we have in our hands“, said Islam Mohamed, a local resident who works as a ferryman on the Nile. Each year in his Aswan area, he only reports a maximum of a few dozen cases of scorpion stings.
Victims also do not need to panic. You just need to take them to the hospital, inject anti-poison serum and wait a few days to fully recover. “We’re almost too used to it.”, said Mohamed.
A resident filmed a scorpion trying to enter his house but was beaten to death by him
But the heavy downpour from last weekend’s storm produced something different from the sporadic scorpion raids. Experts say the floods in Aswan may have pushed not a few but thousands of scorpions from desert valleys onto mountainside villages.
The Aswan Mountains are home to the Arabian fat-tailed scorpion (Androctonus crassicauda). This scorpion is also known in Greek as “killer scorpion“. They have a body about 8-10 cm long and a pair of ears that are very sensitive. That is because scorpions mainly rely on vibrations and sounds to locate prey, an ability that compensates for both sight and smell. their very poor sense.
Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, a professor of molecular toxicology at Suez Canal University who specializes in scorpion venom studies, says a single bite from the Arabian fat-tailed scorpion can easily kill a child. For adults, it can cause swelling, fever, sweating, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Depending on weight, health, and the amount of venom in one or more stings, the Arabian fat-tailed scorpion can also kill adults and cause them to convulse. In this week’s case it was 3 soldiers at a police station.
The Aswan government denied the deaths of the soldiers were related to scorpions. However, they did not deny the information that at least 503 people were bitten by scorpions overnight.
The number of people hospitalized was so great that all the hospitals in the area had to open their serum stockpile. The Egyptian Ministry of Health has also issued a message warning people in the Aswan region about the risk of encountering scorpions.
The Arabian fat-tailed scorpion (Androctonus crassicauda) is also known as the “killer scorpion”.
Man made the desert angry?
Thousands of scorpions swarming through villages one night was clearly something the people of Aswan had never witnessed. So is a flood in the desert. Meteorologists in Egypt say Aswan’s heaviest rain has been since 2014.
Therefore, the storm that this area has just suffered is a highly unusual weather event. Many people associate them with the floods described in the Bible, and that humans are somehow making the gods in the desert angry.
Mourad Abazid, a 56-year-old man who lives in Kobaniya, one of the lowest-lying areas on the West Nile, said floods had flooded his home, forcing him and his family to take shelter at a mosque.
At the end of the refugee camp, Abazid returned to his home, only to be left in ruins. He set up a tent to sleep on the side of the street next to the foundation of his house. His wife and three children had to live with neighbors.
“Thank God, no one in my family died. But our home is no more. We don’t know what to do now“, said Abazid. In his village, most of the other houses were also partially damaged, many houses are still in danger of collapsing.
“The rain lasted only an hour, but it destroyed everything.”, said Abazid.
A wreckage remains in Aswan after the water receded.
Aswan and a whole mountain region of northern Egypt have a long, forgotten history. Amid widespread poverty, some Aswanese have turned to scorpion hunters. This profession can be profitable, but it requires hunters to take risks.
Dr. Abdel-Rahman, a scorpion researcher, said scorpion venom is often purchased for medicinal and scientific research, including cancer treatment. One gram of scorpion venom can therefore sell for 8,000 USD, equivalent to 180 million VND.
However, to get 1 gram of scorpion venom or milk, hunters must catch at least 3,000. And they usually kill them after getting the venom.
“I’m very, very sad when people kill scorpions, because scorpion venom is so rich and useful.” Dr. Abdel-Rahman said. He himself regularly hunts scorpions in the deserts around Aswan, Luxor, the Sinai desert and the Mediterranean coast of Egypt.
However, Dr. Abdel-Rahman used only an electric current to stimulate the scorpion to inject venom. After recovering the venom, he will release these scorpions back into the wild so that they continue to live and nourish the venom again.
In 20 years of studying scorpions, he said he has never been stung, which can be said to be a record for those who do this work. Abdel-Rahman’s secret is to always catch scorpions with pliers.
“Many skilled people can catch scorpions with their hands, grabbing their tails. But I don’t recommend doing that.”, he said.
Many Egyptians hunted scorpions for their venom to sell.
Returning to the big storm in Aswan, Egyptian meteorologists say it is a result of climate change. The flood of scorpions also has nothing to do with the people here to catch scorpions and get revenge by scorpions.
However, to a certain extent, human industrialization is causing the planet’s climate to change. And so, extreme weather events like those in Aswan are likely to continue with greater frequency in the future.
Egypt is also an area sensitive to climate change. Their deserts in recent years have become hotter and hotter. Many lands that were once able to grow olives have now become desertified.
In the opposite direction, sea level rise and unusual floods like the recent Aswan could threaten many areas from upstream to the Nile basin.
Refer to Livescience, Nytimes
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