JORDAN CLOUDBURST AT PETRA JOHN WILLIAM BURGON, A 19TH CENTURY BRITISH CLERGYMAN 
AND MINOR POET, WROTE A MEMORABLE LINE WHEN HE DESCRIBED ANCIENT 
PETRA AS " A ROSE-RED CITY HALF AS OLD AS TIME 
. " ROMANTIC, INACCESSIBLE, IT LIES IN THE MIDST OF A 
VAST DESERT IN SOUTHERN JORDAN, AND TODAY, AS ALWAYS, ITS ONLY 
APPROACH IS THROUGH A DEEP, NARROW GORGE CALLED THE SIQ, WHICH 
TRADITION SAYS WAS CREATED WHEN MOSES STRUCK THE ROCK WITH HIS 
ROD . FROM 300 B.C . TO A.D . 100, WHEN 
PETRA FLOURISHED AS THE CARAVAN CAPITAL OF THE NABATAEANS, THE SIQ 
MADE THE CITY IMPREGNABLE, SINCE A FEW MEN IN THE SERPENTINE 
GORGE, OFTEN NO MORE THAN TWO YARDS WIDE, COULD HOLD UP 
AN ARMY . TODAY, THE NARROW THREE-MILE COURSE IS TRAVELED BY 
THOUSANDS OF TOURISTS WHO GO TO GAPE AT THE ELABORATE TOMBS 
AND TEMPLES BUILT INTO ROCK THAT IS COLORED CRIMSON, SEPIA, BROWN 
AND VIOLET, LIKE WATERED SILK . DESERT SPRINKLE . TWO PARTIES 
OF FOREIGNERS REACHED THE ENTRANCE TO THE SIQ ONE DAY LAST 
WEEK, EAGER TO JOURNEY THE REMAINING THREE MILES TO PETRA . 
THE FIRST WAS A GROUP OF 23 FRENCHWOMEN MAKING A HOLY 
LAND PILGRIMAGE UNDER THE TUTELAGE OF A PARISIAN PRIEST, ABBE JEAN 
STEINMANN, 52, VICAR OF NOTRE DAME ; THE SECOND WAS A 
LARGER GROUP OF ITALIAN PILGRIMS . THE FRENCH PARTY GAILY ENTERED 
THE SIQ GORGE JUST AS A SPRINKLE OF RAIN BEGAN TO 
FALL . FOUR WERE TRAVELING IN A LANDROVER, THE REST ON 
FOOT . SUDDENLY, THE LIGHT RAIN BECAME A CLOUDBURST THE WORST 
IN ARID PETRA'S RECORDED HISTORY . WITHIN HALF AN HOUR, TORRENTIAL 
FLOODS WERE STREAMING DOWN FROM THE HILLS AND CLIFFS AND POURING 
INTO THE SIQ AS INTO A FUNNEL . ONE ITALIAN PILGRIM 
SAID, " WE HEARD SHRIEKS AND CRIES WITHIN THE RAVINE, AS 
THE MUDDY CASCADE OF WATER RUSHED BY US . WE SAW 
THE LITTLE CAR WITH THE FOUR WOMEN AND THE DRIVER SWEPT 
ALONG BY THE TORRENT AND THEN SUBMERGED . IN AN INSTANT, 
THEY ALL DISAPPEARED IN THE FLOODWATERS RAGING ALONG AT PERHAPS 60 
MILES AN HOUR . " PRAYERS ON THE LEDGE . TWO 
YOUNG FRENCHWOMEN, WHO WERE DAWDLING ALONG BEHIND THE PARTY, HEARD THE 
ROAR OF THE ONCOMING FLOOD AND MANAGED TO SCRAMBLE UP THE 
ROCK WALL TO A LEDGE 12 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND . 
" THE WATER ROSE HIGHER AND HIGHER, " SAID ONE . 
" IT GRADUALLY REACHED OUR FEET, THEN OUR KNEES . WE 
COULD NOT SEE THE OTHERS, BUT WE HEARD THEIR CRIES . 
SOON WE HEARD NOTHING BUT THE THUNDERING WATER . WE CLUNG 
TO THE LEDGE AND PRAYED . " THOSE TWO WERE SAVED, 
BUT WHEN THE FLOOD SUBSIDED THREE HOURS LATER, THE MUDDY FLOOR 
OF THE GORGE WAS LITTERED WITH SODDEN, BATTERED BODIES ABBE STEINMANN, 
TWO ARABS (A GUIDE AND A DRIVER), AND 21 FRENCHWOMEN . 
PETRA POLICE FLASHED WORD OF THE DISASTER TO AMMAN AND, DROPPING 
EVERYTHING, KING HUSSEIN FLEW HIS HELICOPTER TO THE SIQ GORGE AND 
PERSONALLY DIRECTED OPERATIONS . THE TWO SURVIVORS WERE RUSHED TO COMFORTABLE 
QUARTERS IN HUSSEIN'S BASMAN PALACE . THE 22 OTHERS, WHO NEVER 
QUITE REACHED THE ROSE-RED TOMBS OF PETRA, WERE EMBALMED FOR AIR 
SHIPMENT AND BURIAL AT HOME IN FRANCE . A FAMED BIBLICAL 
SPECIALIST, ABBE STEINMANN WROTE SEVERAL BOOKS ON THE PROPHETS, BUT IN 
1961 HIS LIFE OF JESUS WAS PLACED ON THE VATICAN'S INDEX 
OF BANNED WORKS, AND A YEAR LATER THE CHURCH FORBADE HIM 
ANY FURTHER BIBLICAL PUBLICATIONS . HOWEVER, ABBE STEINMANN REMAINED VICAR OF 
NOTRE DAME . 