Nayef Ali and Ahmad Abdullah Saudi Gazette MADINAH/JEDDAH — The holy city of Madinah witnessed heavy rain Saturday morning, causing students to miss school. The Makkah region also witnessed rains of varying intensity Saturday. Madinah residents were awakened by lightning, thunder and hail that lasted for more than an hour. Morning prayers in the Prophet's Mosque were carried out quickly and traffic on the airport road was stopped. Floods from Uhud Mountain caused road closures as there are no floods drainage systems in the area. The Al-Far'a and Al-Henakiah areas suspended all classes for the time being while the Civil Defense was on high alert. The rain exposed the ill execution of municipality projects, according to emergency services. The Civil Defense and traffic police blamed the municipality for flooding on the main streets. They said the municipality is using primitive methods to drain the water. Rainfall was medium to heavy in Taif and light to medium in Makkah and was preceded by warnings from the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME). This was followed by another warning of rain and dusty winds forming in Rabigh and on the Makkah-Madinah expressway. The Civil Defense was notified of these warnings, and coordination with other government bodies was initiated. Television stations broadcast these warnings and advised residents to avoid valleys. Col. Saeed Sarhan, spokesman for Makkah Civil Defense, said medium to heavy rain was experienced in Rabigh. All valleys in the region were flooded. Several reports of people who had got trapped were dealt with.Schools were suspended on Saturday for safety reasons. Two people were killed and six others injured due to a hanger collapse in Al-Nuwaibe valley. All Civil Defense operations were directly supervised by Maj. Gen. Jameel Arbaeen, director of Civil Defense in the Makkah region.
