Since the preventing erupted, banking providers in Tigray have been suspended by the authorities. Access to the web has also been cut – though it is not clear who ordered the closure.
A separate source in Alamata instructed the BBC there was a worsening humanitarian disaster in the space, as the city swelled with people fleeing preventing.
“All the residents of the surrounding areas entered the town of Alamata by walking on foot for as long as an hour, hoping the town would be safe.
“Unfortunately, everything is blocked – no banking service, no money switch, no energy, no web, no telephone. Hence people are in disaster, merely struggling, everyone is determined and annoyed.”
The British tourist in Lalibela said online banking was working in Lalibela but there was a shortage of physical cash.
He said the situation around the town had calmed down in the last two days and there were indications the airport, which was still being used by the military, might reopen on Thursday.
“The native people, they are still scared of what might occur. The army presence here in the city has remained and a bigger army drive has been seen leaving the city heading north,” he said.
When the airport was first closed, 53 tourists had been in the town, he explained.
But some had since been evacuated, including the 14 Israelis airlifted out on Monday while another five had left the day before via an NGO convoy, despite advice not to travel by road.
Of the remaining tourists in Lalibela, the largest group were Americans, with Israelis, Britons, South Korean, South Africans, an Ethiopian-New Zealander and a Mexican also stranded, he said.
Meanwhile, for those cut off in Tigray because of the telecoms shutdown, the Tigray Broadcasting Service (TBS), based in Addis Ababa, has started an initiative to help reconnect families.
The broadcaster has said it will collect video messages via its Telegram channel from people outside the region and air them via satellite TV.
While limited to greetings and updates, this will provide a rare lifeline for families separated by the blackout.
The clampdown on Tigray’s banking services is also affecting Tigrayans who are not physically in the region.
Customers have told the BBC that bank accounts opened in Tigray have been frozen or restricted.
“I boarded public transport from Addis Ababa to Adama and tried to pay utilizing a cell switch, but it did not work,” said a former Mekelle resident who moved to the capital two months ago because of growing tensions in Tigray.
“It has created havoc for many people like me who escaped the state of affairs in Tigray,” he told the BBC’s Tigrinya service.
“Many Tigrayans are now in bother.”
Additional reporting by Yemane Nagish
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