Cairo: Floods resulting from torrential rain have paralysed traffic in the city of Ha’il in north-western Saudi Arabia, according to media reports.
Videos circulating on social media purportedly showed cars trapped on flooded roads in the city as some persons volunteered to guide the vehicles.
The downpour prompted authorities to halt prayers at Al Rajhi Mosque, a landmark of the city, starting from Friday to carry out maintenance works on the site.
The area where the mosque is situated was lashed by heavy rains that made it hard for worshippers to reach the place.
Accumulated rainwater in Ha’il resulted in traffic paralysis after many vehicles had broken down, reports said.
The city’s mayoralty sought to handle the situation by deploying teams equipped with machinery to siphon off water from street puddles and clean drains from residues brought in by floods.
Cars trapped in valleys accounted for most of the reports lodged with authorities.
Civil defence teams in Ha’il detected violations of motorists, who had tried to move across flood-submerged valleys despite earlier warnings, putting their safety and that of others at risk.
The offence is punishable by SR10,000.
Civil defence in Al Hayit governorate, south of Ha’il, said its personnel had retrieved the body of a dead boy from a flooded gulley in a village. The corpse had been recovered with help from volunteer teams, and the service was added to its X account.
Civil defence authorities in the kingdom had earlier warned against leaving children unaccompanied in areas prone to floods.
Several parts of Saudi Arabia have recently experienced heavy rain, which prompted a temporary halt to classes and a shift to online education.
