Not surprisingly, the flood disaster in Jeddah continues to dominate Saudi news. The official investigation was launched on Saturday and the media are busy highlighting stories that could serve to direct the investigatory commission’s view.

There’s no doubt that the flooding has been the fulcrum that is moving the Saudi state in a new direction, much as the 2002 fire at a girls’ school in Mecca served to lever the Saudi religious establishment out of its self-described position as ‘protector of all things’. Now, allegations and counter-allegations of government malfeasance, particularly in the Jeddah mayor’s office, are flying back and forth.

Credit: Saudi Gazette

Saudi Gazette/Okaz report that a mighty amount of money has been spent by the mayor’s office over the years to mitigate flooding problems, US $373 million, going back to 1971. Plans dating back to the reign of King Faisal were never put into action, the report says:

SR1.4 billion spent on Jeddah water drainage network in 38 years: Official

The papers report, in English and Arabic, the the courts in Jeddah are absolving themselves of any responsibility for the disaster. While the courts must approve land purchase agreements, says Rashed Al-Hazza, Chief Judge of the Jeddah General Court, the agreements must first receive approval from 12 different government departments:

… Jeddah Mayoralty, the National Guard, Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Guidance, and Endowments, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Defense and Aviation, the Road and Transport Administration, the Mineral Resources Agency, the Border Guard, the Saudi Electricity Company, the Antiquities Department at the Ministry of Education, and the Aziziya Spring Water Department, he said. If one government department claims ownership or does not approve private ownership for any reason, the court does not issue the land title.
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Arab News is also direct in its allocation of responsibility:

‘Municipality responsible for flood’

That paper also offers an editorial on the inadequate response of government to the catastrophe:

Editorial: Agony continues

Jeddah continues struggle with the catastrophic consequences of last week’s flooding, as public anger rises, both at the extraordinary infrastructural failures that exacerbated the effects of the sudden downpour and at the grievous inadequacy of the official response to the disaster.

The public mood is all too understandable. What is less fathomable is the continuing patchiness of the response from the authorities and the general lack of coordination. It seems that too many officials are waiting for someone else to take the initiative, with the result that those few who are really trying to sort out part of the mess are effectively working in isolation.

The issue of disease is a case in point. After the rains hit Makkah with less horrific consequences, helicopters were used to spray standing pools of fetid water, to reduce the risk of malaria, dengue fever or typhoid. No such spraying appears to have yet taken place in Jeddah. Nor has there been any significant effort to draw up these stagnant pools into tankers and take the water away for safe disposal outside the city.
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Further, Arab News carries a story about the Kingdom’s weather, from a Saudi climatologist. Things are looking damp for parts of the country, he says, though not on an ahistoric level. The scientist attributes the disaster to inadequate infrastructure and to public unawareness of the potential problem of heavy rains…

Saudi Arabia ‘will have 20% more rain this year’

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