Flash floods rush through Saudi Arabia as more severe weather expected

Videos circulating on social media on Monday showed different areas of Saudi Arabia, hit with severe flooding, including Mecca and Medina.

Heavy rain has been recorded across the kingdom since last Thursday. Mecca has been hit hard since last week, with rainfall drenching worshipers in the Great Mosque of Mecca’s courtyard. Online videos show whole neighborhoods such as Al-Otaibi coming to a standstill as roads were closed off.

سيول هادرة وتاريخية #مكة_المكرمة الان pic.twitter.com/MKrFwLqUuy

— طقس الجزيرة (@taqs01) January 2, 2023

Videos from Medina showed entire streets covered with rainfall:

#SaudiArabia ; Wadi comes to the city in #Medina #المدينه_المنوره pic.twitter.com/SybYNfYab5

— sebastian usher (@sebusher) January 2, 2023

Floods covered the streets of Jeddah just a couple of weeks after floodwaters overtook the area in November 2022.

The National Centre of Meteorology warned Saturday about more severe weather conditions, raising the state of alert until Friday morning. The report predicted potential snow in areas of higher altitudes such as the Tabuk region.

Classes in schools and universities have been suspended in the Mekkah region.

The November floods resulted in chaos and heavy damage as torrential waters swept away vehicles. It was the highest rainfall since 2009, when 123 were killed.

Videos of the flash floods went viral as the water washed away everything in its path and killed two people.

Several factors have been blamed for the flash floods in the kingdom’s capital, among them climate change, inappropriate urban development and the geomorphological features of Jeddah.