Flash floods leave 30 Saudis dead

More than 30 people have been killed in flash floods in Saudi Arabia, say newspaper reports.

Heavy rains and high winds combined to sweep cars off roads and destroy houses in the southern Asir province and the city of Jeddah, the reports say.

Jeddah was reportedly pelted with hail, power lines collapsed and metre-deep waters surged through the streets.

Local media have described the storms, on Wednesday and Thursday, as the worst in more than a decade.

January storms in Medina killed 29

Okaz, a Jeddah-based Saudi newspaper, said four people died when their house collapsed on Thursday.

Others, including a child, were killed by lightning strikes. On Friday, municipal workers were out in Jeddah cleaning up after the floods.

A Civil Defence official put the total killed at 30 people.

In January heavy rain and flash floods killed 29 people in Saudi Arabia's western city of Medina.