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Heavy rains hit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan
Ag AFP
RIYADH / AMMAN: Heavy rains, accompanied by thunder and lightning, badped Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan Thursday night and Friday.
On Wednesday, the General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection predicted that most Saudi regions would experience moderate to heavy rains from Thursday to Sunday.
Civil Defense urged residents to follow safety instructions and to follow safety instructions, especially when driving on slippery roads and avoiding shallow flooded areas. Motorists were advised to maintain a sufficient distance between vehicles to avoid accidents.
Kuwait's Public Works Minister Hussam Al-Rumi resigned on Friday after flooding in the country.
Al-Rumi expressed "deep regret" for the serious damage to private property caused by the recent heavy rains.
Rain hit Kuwait on Thursday and Friday. Social media images from all over Kuwait showed torrents carrying cars while sewer systems did not drain torrential rain. "On the basis of my moral responsibility and in favor of the approach adopted by His Highness the Prime Minister to bear the consequences of the heavy responsibility of the government, I handed my resignation to the President of the National Assembly", a- he added.
The army and the National Guard have been mobilized to help purge the water of critical facilities and roads and the Kuwait Oil Company has announced the state of emergency, reported the government. KUNA official news agency.
The Meteorological Department of Kuwait's Civil Aviation Authority announced that the country had received nearly 30 millimeters since Thursday night, a considerable sum for Kuwait in 24 hours. It predicts unstable weather conditions and moderate to heavy scattered storm rains, which are expected to last until Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, the University of Kuwait announced that it would close its campus and cancel scheduled exams for Saturday.
The Interior Ministry has urged citizens and expatriates to be cautious over the next few days.
The Prime Minister confirmed that the government was following the situation closely in all regions and that all ministers had been asked to take the necessary measures to maintain security and minimize damage. He also stressed that those who do not perform their tasks will be held responsible.
At the same time, flash floods killed 12 people in Jordan and forced nearly 4,000 tourists to flee the famous desert city, the ancient city of Petra, emergency services said Saturday.
Research teams searched the valleys near the historic city of Madaba, looking for a girl who was still missing after Friday's flood, said Civil Defense spokesman Iyad Amru, on state television.
Among those confirmed dead after the torrential rains that swept the southern kingdom, six people were found in the Madaba area, southwest of the capital, Amman.
In the east, three people were killed near Dabaa on the desert road, one of the three main arteries north-south of Jordan, while another was killed near Maan , in the south.
It was not immediately clear where the other two died.
Amru said that two girls had disappeared in the Madaba area after announcing that one of their bodies had been found.
Government spokeswoman Jumana Ghneimat said the authorities had found four Israeli tourists missing in the Wadi Rum desert in southern Jordan alive, but were looking for two more. "Our embbady in Tel Aviv contacted the Israeli Foreign Ministry to obtain information on the identity of the missing Israelis," Ghneimat said in statements issued by the state-run Petra News Agency.
Israel initially confirmed the report, but a foreign ministry spokesman later said that "all Israelis in Jordan have contacted us and all have been found."
The Jordanian army has deployed helicopters and all-terrain vehicles to help with search and rescue operations after the flood waters cut the desert highway back and forth. A rescuer was also among the dead, said the spokesman of the civil defense.
State television reported that the waters had reached up to four meters in parts of the city of Petra, ravine with red rocks, and in the adjacent desert of Wadi Musa. It has broadcast images of tourists who have fled to the heights on both sides of the road to Jordan's biggest attraction. The government spokeswoman said 3,762 tourists had been evacuated.
The Jordanian ministers of education and tourism both resigned last week due to the failure of the government's response to the floods. The Ministry of Education ordered the closure of schools Saturday throughout the country, despite warnings of torrential rains.
Jordan's Minister of Water and Irrigation, Raed Abu al-Saud, said Saturday that the country's 14 major dams have been filled to 26% of their total capacity over the last 48 hours because of heavy rains. Jordan is a water-scarce country with 90% desert.
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