JEDDAH, 10 April 2004 — Nine people died and huge numbers were injured in accidents after heavy rainfalls in Riyadh and Asir over the last three days, press reports said.
Civil Defense teams rescued a number of people caught up by rains on the Riyadh-Qasim Road, Al-Watan said yesterday. Many cars were held up by rainwater on the northern ring road, the eastern road and Sheikh Jaber Road, it added.
One man drowned in Thumama, north of Riyadh, the Arabic daily said, adding that four people were injured in a road accident on Al-Kharj Road.
In the Al-Rawabi neighborhood near Al-Sadhan Shopping Complex a woman died as a concrete pylon supporting a large billboard collapsed on her car. Four other cars which were parked nearby were also damaged in the incident.
Fayez Al-Motairy, a Saudi, said the pylon collapsed while he was in a shopping center with his friends. “We went back to where the car was parked after hearing a huge crash,” he said. The pylon had no steel support inside, he added.
Ahmed ibn Abdullah Al-Salama, the director general of the Saudi Red Crescent Society in Riyadh, said his organization called reserve officers to take part in rescue operations.
The rains in Riyadh started after Maghreb on Wednesday and were accompanied by strong winds. There was snowfall in the northern part of the city. Rains blocked traffic on several roads in the city for hours.
There were also heavy rains on Thursday in Taif and Khamis Mushayt as floods inundated many busy roads there. A 12-member family were marooned by rainwater in Oqbat Talaa, north of Namas. Civil Defense officers later rescued them, the paper said.
According to Okaz daily, nine people were killed and several injured in 95 road accidents as a result of rains in the southern Asir region over the last three days.
