Man dies, camels, cattle swept away in Makkah floods

MAKKAH: One man drowned, camels and cattles were swept away as dramatic bolts of lightning and flash floods struck Makkah due to heavy thunderstorms overnight on Tuesday and early on Wednesday.

Mohammed Al-Twaim, a teacher at Mina Elementary School, lost his life trying to escape from his car after it was engulfed by floodwater.

In a video posted by Storm Centre, camels, cattle and materials were seen being swept away as flash floods hit a valley in Al-Jumum in Makkah.

As torrential rains showered over the region, Saudi’s Makkah city has taken the biggest hit, with flooding taking place in its valleys.

The city has been on a red alert for heavy rainfall, dust storm and thunder since a few days, as per the met. The Civil Defence in Makkah said it was monitoring the weather and rain conditions.

As pilgrims tried to circumambulate the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque, lightning hit the landmark Fairmont Makkah Clock Royal Tower hotel, illuminating the night sky. The storm brought gale force winds exceeding 80 kph and 45 millimetres of rain within 24 hours, said National Center for Meteorology spokesman Hussein Al-Qahtani.

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Pilgrims outside the mosque were toppled over by the wind, which sent crowd barriers sliding across the rain-slicked floor. “The scene was very scary,” said Makkah resident Mohammed, who was grocery shopping at the height of the storm. “Everything happened within a few minutes, when it started raining in a crazy way.”

Another resident, Abu Mayyada, was out buying cigarettes and petrol when “everything went black in front of me” as the worst of the storm hit, he said. “Suddenly I lost control over the vehicle. I couldn’t see anything so I started listening to the Qur’an on the radio. I didn’t understand what was happening.”

The Makkah governorate said schools would remain closed, with classes conducted on an e-learning platform “in the interest of everyone’s safety.”

The meteorology center warned of further storms in the Makkah region and elsewhere in western Saudi Arabia.

The authority in the region has warned residents of staying away from low-lying areas, pools of water and valley bottoms during rainfall and flash floods.