Downpour brings misery to Riyadh

March 20, 2015

Riyadh, Mar 20: Heavy rains lashed Riyadh on Thursday morning causing congestions on main traffic arteries.

Rainwater flooded the new Al-Kharj road. Industrial areas were inundated. Traffic police diverted traffic on the new Al-Kharj road to the old Al-Kharj road to enable workers to make their way to their offices.

Motorists using the airport highway to the city center were caught up in traffic snarls.

riyadh misery

Al-Jouf region, including the city centers of Sakaka and Zaloom, Al-Kharj district, Makkah, Khurmah province and places such as Muzamiyah, Quwaiyath, Murat and Ghat in the Riyadh region experienced torrential rains, while Taif received light showers.

Abdul Kareem Mohamed Ashraff, top executive at a food company, said that it took him more than two-and-a-half hours to reach his office because of heavy rains. “The whole new Al-Kharj road from Exit 18 was impassable due to floods,” he said.

Packeer Alithamby, an accountant at a steel factory in the industrial zone, told Arab News that it took him four hours to reach his workplace, which normally would have taken 30 minutes. “I saw the underpass on the new Al-Kharj road was flooded and it was impassable,” he said.

Hameed Mowlana, who works close to the industrial area, said some of the roads flooded quickly because there is no proper drainage system in the Faisaliah district. “Roads are being dug now to install proper drainage facilities in these areas,” he said. The district houses more than 200 warehouses of large suppliers of food, industrial spares, textiles and building materials.

The Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) said that rainfall with thunderstorms accompanied by cold winds would affect regions of Riyadh, the Eastern Province, Qassim, Hail, Northern Border and Al-Jouf. Similar climatic conditions will prevail in the highland regions of Makkah, Baha, Asir and Najran.

Surface winds and rising dust will reduce visibility in Madinah and Tabuk, while people will notice a drop in temperatures in the northwest and west of the Kingdom. Fog is also expected in the northern and eastern regions of the Kingdom.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Saudi King Salman chairs cabinet meeting from hospital via video call

Agencies

July 22,2020

Riyadh, Jul 22: Saudi King Salman held a cabinet meeting via video call from hospital in the capital Riyadh on Tuesday, a day after the 84-year-old monarch was admitted with inflammation of the gall bladder.

Three Saudi sources said the king was in stable condition.

A video of the king chairing the meeting was broadcast on Saudi state TV on Tuesday evening. In the video, which has no sound, King Salman can be seen behind a desk, wordlessly reading and leafing through documents.

The king, who has ruled the world’s largest oil exporter and close US ally since 2015, was undergoing medical checks, state media on Monday cited a Royal Court statement as saying.

Three well-connnected Saudi sources who declined to be identified, two of whom were speaking late on Monday and one on Tuesday, said the king was “fine”.

An official in the region, who requested anonymity, said he spoke to one of King Salman’s sons on Monday who seemed “calm” and that there was no sense of panic about the monarch’s health.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

All you need to know about Saudi Arabia's Tawakkalna App

coastaldigest.com web desk

May 21,2020

The Tawakkalna application developed by Saudi Arabia's National Information Centre to processes requests for movement permits during the curfew to curb the spread of the virus has become a major helplnine for past few weeks.

The application developed through the close cooperation between the Ministry of Health and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) was launched on May 4.

According to Saudi Telecom Group, it handles 20,000 calls daily through the Tawakkalna platform by dedicating a call centre of 600 employees through its Contact Centre Company (CCC).

The Tawakkalna app can be used to issue e-permits for a selected group of government and private sector employees who were exempted from the curfew, and individuals who have medical appointments as well as couriers.

Tawakkalna has features for the service of citizens and residents, for ensuring their safety and comfort that would contribute to facilitating the access of authorized persons to travel permits.

The official page about Tawakkalna on Twitter, says: “You must always keep in mind that pinpointing your exact location of residence is the only way for you to benefit from the app’s range of services and permits.”

The app will also provide the latest alerts and medical news issued by the Ministry of Health about the virus as well as about its spread, ways to prevent it and movement permits.

Tawakkalna can be used for self-disclosure for people who show signs of coronavirus infection and for requesting ambulance service and other important services for the community.

Through the app users can apply for a one-hour permit for a walk in the neighborhood on a daily basis, thereby encouraging walking during this period of lockdown.

Comments

sir,

i am facing problem for receiving OTP code during registration for my family. i am unable to get OTP code.

please assist.

Entering date of birth is the big problem is the big problem of this app.

Dob entering problem

Hi,

I am trying to register in the Tawakkalna app, but it keeps on throwing error. Any idea?

thanx

B I

R8NEB24

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Dubai ruler launches New Media Academy

June 15,2020

Dubai, Jul 15: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced the launch of a 'New Media Academy in Dubai on Monday - a new institution that will train people on the science of digital media.

Taking to Twitter, Sheikh Mohammed said that new media is a new science that has its own set of special tools and secrets, and that the future cadres of UAE must be at the forefront of it.

"The academy will prepare new experts and managers in the field of communication in government and private institutions, as well as training professional social media influencers", Sheikh Mohammed tweeted, adding that the new media is providing new job opportunities and careers today, and will always be a main supporter in the journey of development.

Comments