RIYADH: Fierce storms closed schools on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia’s Makkah region which was lashed by heavy rains and wind overnight, witnesses said.
As pilgrims tried to circumambulate the Kaaba, a bolt of lightning struck the iconic Makkah Clock Tower hotel, illuminating the night sky late on Tuesday.
The storm brought gale force winds exceeding 80 kilometres per hour, Hussein al-Qahtani, spokesman for the National Centre for Meteorology, said.
The conditions were similar to a 2015 storm that felled a crane at the Grand Mosque, killing more than 100 people and injuring hundreds more, Qahtani said. No casualties were reported in Tuesday’s storm.
The Makkah neighbourhood of Al-Kakkiyah recorded 45 millimetres of rain within 24 hours, the meteorology centre shared in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Footage shared by residents showed pilgrims outside the Grand Mosque who were toppled over by the wind, which also sent crowd barriers sliding across the rain-slicked floor.
“The scene was very scary,” said 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, Yusuf, said August usually brought strong winds to Makkah but that Tuesday’s storm was “the worst” he could remember.
Flash flooding had mostly dissipated by Wednesday morning, said the residents, who gave only their first names for fear of reprisals.
Nevertheless the Makkah regional government said on X that schools would be closed, with classes conducted on an e-learning platform, “in the interest of everyone’s safety”.
The meteorology centre warned of further storms bringing rain, wind and thunder to the region and elsewhere in western Saudi Arabia.
Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2023