ABHA – The Asir municipality has mobilized its teams and equipment all over Abha following heavy rain that struck the region on Friday and caused rockslides and stagnant pools of water to form in several neighborhoods. Abdul Kareem Abu Kharsha, undersecretary for services at the municipality, said local authorities have been put on high alert and would deal with any emergency case immediately. As for the stagnant pools of water, Kharsha said they were formed due to the many development projects the mayoralty implemented over the past few months. He noted that the mayoralty would contact the contractors and ask them to fix all problems at project sites to prevent an accumulation of water. The mayoralty removed water pools from all valleys including Al-Mansak Valley. Kharsha urged residents to be extra careful because some houses might be at risk from floods. Over the past few days, dozens of citizens called the mayoralty's emergency number 940 and all calls were dealt with, he said. Meanwhile, Asir Emir Prince Faisal Bin Khaled gave directives to all government agencies to evaluate the damage caused by the heavy rain. He ordered government agencies to intensify their campaigns to raise public awareness and asked people to stay away from streams of rainwater and stay at home to receive ongoing updates about weather conditions in the area.
