Flash flood fury leaves 7 dead in south

Flash flood fury leaves 7 dead in south
Updated 12 August 2013
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Flash flood fury leaves 7 dead in south

Flash flood fury leaves 7 dead in south

Recent summer floods have left a trail of death and destruction in their wake, killing seven people since Friday, including a child in the southern and western parts of the Kingdom.
A man drowned when the car he was driving was carried away in surging waters in a valley in Rijal Almae in Asir on Saturday. The body was recovered 6 km away, while his car was found 200 meters down the road, Civil Defense said.
Another man traveling with his brother in Asir Mahayel was also submerged in the flash flood. The second man is missing.
An eight year-old child drowned in Baha, while 10 people were taken to shelters from their inundated houses in the Al-Shaara center. The stranded people climbed on the top of a building, from where they were airlifted to safety.
The eight-year-old boy drowned while swimming in a large pit overflowing with rainwater in the village of Qalwat in the Mekhwat governorate in Baha. Another boy accompanying him was rescued.
Civil Defense airlifted six people, including four Yemenis stranded in floodwater in Jazan. Torrential rains in the Qunfuda governorate in the Makkah province killed a Saudi and a Yemeni on Saturday.
A number of flooded houses had to be evacuated as rain continued for a third day on Sunday in some towns in the Jazan valley and the south of Sabya.
Telecommunications and Internet connections were disrupted and roads were pronounced unsafe in the hilly areas of the province. A bridge in the town of Adiya in Sabya was also partly submerged. Airborne rescue teams are scanning the area for people trapped in the midst of flooded valleys. There were also cases of power lines falling on a house in the town of Beesh. Streets were submerged in water in Tewal.
Meanwhile, two Pakistani workers miraculously escaped drowning when their vehicle was carried away by raging water currents in the Nekhal valley near Abha, where a teenager drowned on Friday.
The Water Department, in collaboration with the Directorate of Civil Defense and other government departments, opened the shutters of the dam at Beesh as a precautionary measure against overflowing and flooding in nearby villages.