Heavy rains had hit the city of Taif in western Saudi Arabia

Heavy rains paralyze Taif traffic

TAIF — Heavy rains on Friday brought this picturesque city near Makkah in western Saudi Arabia to a standstill, flooding roads and trapping cars, media reports said.

Online footage showed a number of cars submerged in rain-soaked streets.

Civil Defense personnel responded to 30 reports about cars trapped as a result of the Friday rains that resulted in high levels of accumulated waters on some roads. Fourteen of those cars had people stuck inside and were safely retrieved, the Civil Defense added.

The downpours paralyzed traffic on a main Taif road after many vehicles broke down due to the piled rainwaters, online newspaper Sabq reported.

Locals in Taif’s district of Al-Muntazah were forced to keep indoors due to the high levels of rainwaters, it added.

An emergency operations room has been set up to handle the situation in coordination with relevant government and non-governmental agencies. No casualties were recorded.