Heroes live among us and can be anyone; when disasters occur, count on humanity and a good punch of adrenaline in the gut to make things better.
On Wednesday morning, a man known by the name Abbas risked his life to help people stuck in rain floods in Saudi Arabia's Wadi Nayra, a town located in Al Baha governorate. As most incidents these days, bystanders filmed the rescue mission and shared the incident on social media.
In the video, a car is seen being overpowered by floods, causing it to sink and leaving only its roof and rear windows in sight. The passengers in the vehicle were spotted sitting on its roof, desperately >waiting for help. Before civil defense >could arrive at the scene, the hero in this story took it upon himself to intervene.
The man was filmed driving a loader (a type of construction truck) right into the flood and opening up its shovel area so those trapped could jump in it. Once they were all in, he drove them back to safety without injuries.
The near-drowning incident occurred after a rainstorm wreaked havoc on Wadi Nayra and its surrounding towns, flooding nearly all major roads.
Hundreds have hailed Abbas as a hero and called on authorities to honor him for his bravery. Nevertheless, others are calling on people to adhere to warnings issued by authorities barring people from trying to cross flooded roads with their vehicles.
"After their rescue, the driver of the car should be punished. Civil defense have warned people many times, but they don't listen," one Twitter user commented.
Hero of the day
Floods are on the rise in the kingdom and so are rainstorms
Just this year, several deadly storms and floods were reported in the country. Last month, a >destructive rainstorm hit Saudi Arabia's Hafar Al Batin governorate, killing seven people and injuring 11. Months before that, >heavy floods left 12 people dead and hundreds of others injured after heavy rainfall and storms hit several of the country's areas, mainly in western and northwestern parts of the kingdom near its border with Jordan.
Many blame authorities for not implementing an effective natural disaster plan to help deal with similar weather conditions. Others say the kingdom's infrastructure needs major maintenance to handle increasing amounts of rain falling in its cities over the past few years.
A few believe the increase in stormy incidents affecting Saudi Arabia is related to >climate change. This minority has >constantly called the country's authorities out on> not doing enough to combat the phenomenon which has certainly affected changes in weather experienced by the kingdom and the entire >region in recent years.