RIYADH/MAKKAH: Heavy downpours in many parts of the Kingdom, including Makkah, Jeddah, Riyadh, Qassim, Abha, Jizan, Madinah and Hail during the past two days, caused traffic jams and power outages in certain areas. Some people lost their lives as a result of torrential floods.
Makkah and surrounding areas witnessed heavy rainfall for many hours on Wednesday evening. Scores of police officers were deployed with heavy equipment to carry out rescue operations.
There were traffic jams, too, in many parts of Jeddah where officers were seen controlling traffic to ensure smooth flow of vehicles without accidents.
Power outages were reported in some Makkah neighborhoods, and a series of electrical short-circuits too were reported as a result of flooding and poor wirings.
The heavy rains occurred in weekends when many families were holding weddings and marking other occasions. According to reports, some families had canceled their wedding parties fearing rains.
“Some people rushed to wedding halls to pick up their families, soon after the rains, fearing floods,” one observer in Makkah said. A number of people in Makkah had to stay at wedding halls and other places overnight as drivers were able to take them back home only the next morning as a result of flooded streets. There were many cases of families stranded in their vehicles in the middle of pools of rainwater.
The flooded areas in Makkah were the Ring Road, Mansour Street, Haj Street, Um Al-Joud and Nowariya. Eyewitness report said many Makkah youth were offering help to stranded individuals and families in the flooded areas.
Col. Ali Al-Muntashiri, spokesman of the Civil Defense Department in Makkah, said only minor accidents were reported. He said rescue operations were carried out by his department to help those stranded in cars.
Heavy rainfall was reported yesterday in many parts of Hail as well as in Baha and the surrounding areas of Baljurashi, Aqiq and Mandaq. In Asir, Civil Defense officers rescued a number of families stranded in Wadi Al-Dala area.
Civil Defense officials warned people against crossing dangerous valleys, saying flash floods could endanger them and their families.
In Qassim, the department evacuated more than 200 people from a heavily flooded area and moved them to temporary shelters. Families caught in floodwaters in Nabhaniya were also evacuated and moved to furnished apartments. Official sources said the department had conducted at least 78 rescue operations in the province.
In Majmaa, 180 km north of Riyadh, a dam burst was reported as a result of heavy rains. Afif was another hard-hit township in Riyadh, where many Civil Defense teams were deployed to carry out rescue operation.
Officials faced a hard time as a result of people refusing to follow safety instructions such as avoiding valleys that are prone to flash floods. Some citizens refused to leave their areas in order to protect their homes and livestock, and officers had to use force to move them to safety. Students were stopped from going to schools in flooded Afif villages.
The Education Department in Madinah issued a memo asking teachers and students not to go to schools located in flooded areas outside the city. Civil Defense officials instructed teachers and students in the city to stay at home till things are safe.
