Zarqa floods
This photo taken by Zarqa resident Mohammad Zawahreh, posted on the Jordan Weather Facebook page, shows rain flooding streets in the central city on Sunday
Amman -- Some streets in Zarqa Governorate were submerged with rainwater on Sunday after a heavy downpour caused the formation of floods, according to authorities and town residents.

Motorists abandoned their cars in the middle of the streets after rainwater inundated the vehicles, crippling traffic movement in the already-congested streets of Zarqa, 22km east of Amman, according to eyewitnesses.

"The weather became suddenly cloudy and rain started pouring heavily at around 1:00pm. Ten minutes later, some of the streets turned into streams," town resident and taxi driver, Abu Haitham, told The Jordan Times.

Authorities diverted traffic to different routes and waited for the floods to end before they started pumping out water from submerged streets and tunnels, he added.

"The rain stopped less than an hour later, but the floods continued coming from higher areas. I have never seen this much rain in my life in Zarqa," the town resident said.

Abu Rasoul, another resident of Zarqa, said that manholes in the streets were over-flooded with the heavy rain, noting that water flooded several shops, including his mini-market.

"The last time I saw such heavy rain was in the 1970s," the 70-year-old man, said.

Meanwhile, the Zarqa Civil Defence Department (CDD) said the heavy rain didn't lead to any accidents.

"No weather-related accidents occurred, and the situation is under control," a CDD officer said yesterday.

The heavy rain was brought by unstable weather conditions, which started affecting the country on Thursday and were forecast to taper off Monday, according to the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD).

A Red Sea trough caused the unstable weather condition, a JMD meteorologist told The Jordan Times, underscoring that the country witnesses during autumn several Red Sea troughs, which contribute 1 per cent of the country's long term annual average of 8 billion cubic metres.

"The weather will remain relatively cold and cloudy on Monday and Tuesday, with chances of scattered morning showers. Temperatures will range between a high of 16ºC, dropping to 10ºC at night in Amman," the forecaster said.

A slight rise in temperatures is expected on Wednesday, when mercury levels will be around their annual range during this time of the year of 20ºC.

Winds will be southeasterly moderate and temperatures will range between a maximum of 19ºC and a minimum of 11ºC, according to the department.