On Thursday, the authorities in the Saudi city of Jeddah called on citizens to avoid rainwater gathering sites and stay away from electricity sources, after the city was exposed to torrential rains.
The official spokesman for the Municipality of Jeddah, Muhammad Al-Baqami, warned against letting children play in rainwater pools.
Al-Bogami called, in statements reported by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), to “avoid the locations of rainwater pools, choose the alternative methods used, and report the water pools.”
#grandfather_now ⚠️
Significant rise in water levels and news of trapped pic.twitter.com/whtL4pP8tU– Arab Weather – Saudi Arabia (@ArabiaWeatherSA) November 24, 2022
He pointed out that “the field teams have started withdrawing rainwater from gathering places that do not have drainage, and removing some waste from the roads to facilitate traffic within the governorate.”
Jeddah rain now pic.twitter.com/Nixb1h894X
– Coach (@Coach_Khaled0) November 24, 2022
Video clips posted on social media showed that traffic in Jeddah was affected by the heavy rain, as well as shocking footage of a number of cars drifting as a result of the speed of water flow.
In one of the videos, one of the women is heard filming cars being washed away by water and praying to God to save them from the current situation, saying: “This is my car that has been swept away.”
Cover up, Seoul, his grandfather.. God bless their condition and protect them pic.twitter.com/m5RVoSoHcV
– Mansour (@ i14nn) November 24, 2022
A wave of heavy rains in the city of Jeddah caused the suspension of studies, delays in flights, and the closure of the road leading to Makkah Al-Mukarramah for hours, according to Saudi media.
Large floods killed 123 people in Jeddah in 2009, and about ten people two years later.