JEDDAH: The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs has launched a system to help predict and plan for heavy rain and flooding across the Kingdom The high-tech system, called Matir, is the first of its kind in the Arab region. It is designed to help the authorities plan early for extreme weather situations, especially rain, and make the best decisions to minimize the loss of life and property. To do this, it uses data from satellites and regional and international weather centers and monitoring stations. This raw data is modeled, with equations and algorithms applied to make forecasts with a high degree of accuracy. Matir features a control panel that shows the overall forecast of flooding risk for the coming five days. The information is color coded based on the risk level, with yellow and red representing the highest risks. The system also provides standard hour-by-hour weather predictions for next five days, including temperatures, wind speed and direction, rainfall intensity, mist and clouds, as well as relative humidity. The system uses all the data to provide predictions and alerts for all of Saudi Arabia’s 286 secretariats and municipalities. It also provides radar data detailing the location and direction of thunderstorms and lightning.