JEDDAH, 12 April — The death toll in the torrential rains and flash floods that swept parts of the Western and Southern Regions of the Kingdom in the past three days has been put at 14.
The Civil Defense yesterday retrieved six bodies from a jeep which was caught in a flash flood while attempting to cross the Ryan valley in the suburbs of Makkah. They also found two dead bodies — one a student of the Umm Al-Qura University and another unidentified man — in Laith in the southern part of the Makkah Province. Three others, two men and a woman, were also reported killed. One drowned in Kamil (76 kms to the north of Jeddah) and another died in Turba. The woman victim was from Laith.
The cyclone that hit the western and southern part of the Kingdom was the heaviest in 10 years. Makkah, Taif, Liaith, Baha, Najran, Abha and Jizan and some areas to the north of Jeddah were worst hit by the freak rains.
Maj. Gen. Saad Al-Toweijeri, director general of Civil Defense in the Kingdom, denied that 1,500 were still trapped by the floods and stated that only 192 people were stranded at various places. He said teams, supported both in air and land, are in action.
On Wednesday, two people were killed, several people stranded as heavy rains had lashed parts of Makkah province. Civil Defense used helicopters to rescue more than 200 people from various parts of the Kingdom while reports state that more people are still trapped in nearby cities.
A 70-year-old man was killed by lightning in Turba and floods killed another man in Laith. Two others, including a woman, were reported missing on Wednesday.
Civil Defense helicopters were prevented by bad weather from reaching the people who remained trapped in Laith, according to reliable sources.
Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Thobaiti, director general of Civil Defense in Makkah region said a dead body was retrieved from the flood waters in Laith.
Al-Thobaiti said the civil defense helicopters airlifted 27 people trapped in their homes or cars in Al-Awali and Wadi Al-Akdhar districts in Makkah to safe locations, while 148 were rescued by the ground teams.
Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed is closely monitoring the rescue operations. On his instructions all Civil Defense officials were pressed into duty. Two helicopters from Jeddah also flew in for additional support.
Brig. Gen. Abdullah Al-Maghrabi, commander of the Civil Defense airbase in Makkah, said four helicopter flights for rescue missions had to be canceled on Wednesday because of poor visibility and dangerous weather conditions in the rain-affected areas.
Maj. Sami Al-Jodani, director of Civil Defense in Laith said a shepherdress was swept away in the flood waters while trying to rescue her nine-year-old son and dozens of sheep. Her body is yet to be found.
According to a statement by the Civil Defense in Makkah, three women and three children were airlifted from Al-Awali to the Noor hospital for treatment. The same team rescued 19 women, children and men from the Mughammes area.
A bus carrying 37 girls of the intermediate and secondary schools in a town in Baha were rescued from the flash floods, said Saeed Al-Ghamdi, director of the girl’s education in Baha.
Heavy rains in the region caused several road accidents and mechanical failures. The Civil Defense also reported several cases of building and wall crashes.
Brig. Gen. Ali Al-Qarni, director of Civil Defense in Baha, said 22 people in cars were stranded in the rains. Several school students could not go to schools because of rising water levels in the ravines and valleys.
In Taif, it was reported that the walls of Al-Muhammadiya Girls’ School in Al-Shafa collapsed. No injuries were reported.
A fire caused by electric short-circuit in a boy’s school in the area was put out before causing major material loss.
Several schools did not open because of the heavy downpour in the southern part of the city while several city districts were affected by acute power outages.
The municipal authorities have taken emergency steps to drain the flood waters from the streets and roads.
Heavy and light rains were also reported in Tabuk, Najran, Khaybar in the Madinah Province, Ahsa, Jizan and Asir during the past three days.
