A pilgrim attending the Islamic hajj speaks on a mobile phone amid heavy rains in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. The heaviest rainstorms to hit the hajj in years flooded the road into Mecca.
Associated Press
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- Muslim pilgrims circled Islam's holiest site Wednesday in their traditional white robes, with a few additions -- umbrellas and face masks -- as the opening of the annual hajj was complicated by torrential rains and fears of swine flu.
Saudi authorities have been planning ways for months to inhibit the spread of swine flu during the pilgrimage, which is seen as an incubator for the virus. The four-day event is one of the most crowded in the world, with more than 3 million people from every corner of the globe packed shoulder to shoulder in prayers and rites.
Now they are scrambling to deal with sudden, unexpected downpours that could worsen one of the gathering's perennial dangers: deadly stampedes.
In 2006, all it took was a dropped piece of luggage to trip up a crowd and cause a pileup that killed more than 360 people at one of the holy sites. The rains also could cause flash floods or mudslides in the desert mountains where most of the rites take place.
On Wednesday, the only fallout from the rains were epic traffic jams, flooded tents and washed out streets as the faithful tried to make their way to the Kaaba in Mecca. To kick off the hajj, Muslims circle seven times around the cube-shaped shrine draped in black cloth.
It often rains in Mecca and Jiddah during the winter months, but Wednesday's downpour was the heaviest in years during the hajj.
Jiddah was swamped with 2.76 inches of rain, more than it would normally get in an entire year, according to Dale Mohler, senior meteorologist at the Accuweather.com Web site.
