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At least 11 dead in Saudi flooding: civil defence

A handout picture released by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) shows an empty road near the tent city for Muslim pilgrims in Mina, Saudi Arabia during a rain storm on November 25, 2009. The world's largest annual religious pilgrimage began under heavy rain at the holy city of Mecca as tens of thousands of people were plodding through the rain on the eight-kilometre (five-mile) trek to Mina, while others took buses. Pilgrims were heading this afternoon to Mina to spend the night before climbing Mount Arafat (background), near where Prophet Mohammed gave his final sermon, to recite the Koran and pray. Photo courtesy AFP.
by Staff Writers
 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (AFP) Nov 25, 2009
 Flooding killed at least 11 people in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port city of Jeddah on Wednesday after a heavy downpour, with more deaths feared, a civil defence official said.

The 11 victims were believed to have drowned, the official said, requesting anonymity.

The storm struck the western Saudi city in the morning, flooding streets. In one part of Jeddah, a bus could be seen submerged under several metres (yards) of water in an underpass.

A witness told AFP by telephone he had seen several bodies beside another bus that overturned in the storm.

Major roads remained gridlocked by traffic late on Wednesday after the rain stopped and floodwaters receded, witnesses said.

The storm also stranded hundreds of Muslim pilgrims in buses headed from Jeddah to Mecca for the first full day of the annual hajj.

Traffic accidents were reported on the 80-kilometre (50-mile) stretch from Jeddah to Islam's holiest city, where some 2.5 million Muslim pilgrims are gathered for the hajj.

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SHAKE AND BLOW
Britain surveys cost of devastating floods
 London (AFP) Nov 23, 2009
 Residents in flood-hit northwest England began returning to their homes Monday but police warned it could take years to recover from the devastation left by the heaviest rainfall on record. Eighteen schools were closed as local authorities struggled to restore basic services across the county of Cumbria, where many areas were cut off at the weekend after swollen rivers brought down bridges a ... read more






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