A video published by the UAE-based The National shows Mecca’s Clock Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world, being dramatically struck by a bolt of lightning amid heavy rains that caused localized flooding.
The video, played in slow motion, shows a wide and bright lightning bolt hitting the top of the Clock Tower.
Rains and thunderstorms have pounded the Mecca region in Saudi Arabia in recent days.
Other videos online on Tuesday showed pilgrims who were doing the tawaf – circling the Kaaba – getting rained upon, with some falling on the floor amid heavy winds and rain which tossed objects around them.
Hussain al-Qahtani, spokesman for the National Center for Meteorology, said that the storm brought gale-force winds exceeding 50 miles per hour.
Al-Qahtani said the Mecca neighborhood of al-Kakiyyah recorded 1.8 inches of rain within 24 hours.
Videos online also showed some flooding in some neighbourhoods of Mecca, forcing citizens to take shelter and stop cars.
