A recent posting on the PME website said it issued warnings about weather disturbances, including heavy downpours beginning from Jan 24, more than a day before the rains hit Jeddah.

The posting also displayed copies of 11 weather reports and warning circulars issued to various departments concerned. Many people have demanded that PME and the Civil Defense send weather warnings directly by text to people.

Faisal Al-Motairi, a resident of a flood-hit neighborhood in east Jeddah, said the weather warnings issued by PME and the Civil Defense did not reach the public directly and so they should be announced from loudspeakers in mosques, in addition to text warnings.

Fadhl Al-Madkhali, another resident in the neighborhood, said many people did not take the PME forecasts seriously because of some past experiences.

For instance, he said, a few days before the Haj in Nov. 2010, the PME dismissed an accurate warning about heavy rains in Saudi Arabia issued by a Russian observatory as unreliable.

Al-Madkhali added that later events proved the correctness of the Russian forecast. On the other hand, the PME said in the denial statement in November that other global centers issuing dependable forecasts did not give any indication of an unprecedented bitter winter or heavy downpours in the Kingdom.

"The latest catastrophe in Jeddah prompted us to suspect the warnings issued by PME and Civil Defense," he said.