Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Fierce storms closed schools Wednesday in Saudi Arabia’s Makkah region, home to Islam’s holiest site, the Grand Mosque, 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 Fairmont Makkah Clock Royal Tower hotel, illuminating the night sky late Tuesday.
The storm brought gale force winds exceeding 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour, Hussein al-Qahtani, spokesman for the National Centre for Meteorology, told AFP.
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.
Makkah resident Abu Mayyada told AFP he was out buying cigarettes and petrol when “everything went black in front of me” as the worst of the storm hit.
“Suddenly I lost control over the vehicle. I couldn’t see anything so I started listening to the Quran on the radio. I didn’t understand what was happening,” he said.
The Makkah neighborhood of Al-Kakkiyah recorded 45 millimeters (1.8 inches) of rain within 24 hours, the meteorology center shared in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Footage shared with AFP by Makkah 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 Makkah 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 in parts of Makkah, with classes conducted on an e-learning platform, “in the interest of everyone’s safety”.
The meteorology center warned of further storms on Wednesday bringing rain, wind and thunder to the Makkah region and elsewhere in western Saudi Arabia.