The heavy rains and hail storms that hit the capital Monday claimed at least two lives, Civil Defense spokesman Abdullah Al-Ghaffari told Saudi Gazette Tuesday. One person was injured and 155 people were rescued in the north and east of the city, he said. One person is reported missing. Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Emir of Riyadh, ordered a list of affected people, who had their houses and vehicles damaged. Al-Ghaffari said that 20 flood-affected families were sheltered in furnished apartments. He said the Civil Defense operations room received 3,600 calls for help from people from various parts of the city. Over 80 motor accidents were reported in two hours Monday, according to the Traffic Department in the capital. Officials said that the Department's Information Center received approximately 400 emergency calls and over 40 units were dispatched in response. The Mayor's Office, meanwhile, sent out 200 teams to start pumping water from the streets and remove road signs and billboards brought down by the wind and rains. A mayoralty official said that all municipalities had begun addressing districts without drainage infrastructure. The disruption was particularly acute at Exits 6 and 7 on the North Ring Road where traffic police were forced to remove the service road metal barrier in order to ease congestion. At Exit 9, a series of commercial outlets suffered damage from winds that ripped away metal fencing and uprooted trees, some crashing down on parked vehicles. No casualties were reported. The East Ring Road was closed between Exits 8 and 11, causing delays for motorists heading for King Khaled Airport. One day prior to the rains, Abdul Aziz Ayyaf, the Mayor of Riyadh, was asked about municipality council remarks that 72 percent of the capital's districts had no sufficient flood drainage network , responding: “I will answer that at a later date”. Observers suggested that Monday's rains answered the question as succinctly as possible. Riyadh skies were overcast at around 4 P.M. on Tuesday, and reports of light rainfall were received from parts of the city. According to insurance industry sources, people have started making property damage claims that include roof collapse and broken windows in the Al-Hamra, Ma'ather and Solaimanya areas. Insurance company officials said it would be premature to assess the total damage caused by the unexpected rainfall. Tawuniya insurance company, meanwhile, is preparing to be inundated with compensation claims by motorists whose vehicles were damaged in Monday's storms, and has extended its office hours for Wednesday and Thursday. “The office at Exit 10 on the East Ring Road has been asked to speed up its claims process so that cases can be dealt with as quickly as possible,” said executive vice president of sales and marketing Ahmad Al-Sha'lan. “The Property and Accident Department is also looking into the situation of factory owners and building contractors to assess the extent of the damage they have suffered to property and engineering projects.” Al-Sha'lan said that assessing such compensation claims would, however, be a lengthier process. – With input from Abdullah Abeed Allah Al-Ghamdi and Mansour Al
