Arabic daily Al-Riyadh posts pictures and a video of the effects of heavy rain in Jeddah. The article notes that underpasses were not flooded, but it seems enough of the streets were awash to make life miserable. There are no reports of fatalities.
Credit: Al-Riyadh
January:26:2011 - 09:42 | Comments & Trackbacks (22) | Permalink
22 Responses to “Rains Again Flood Jeddah”
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
January:26:2011 - 10:26
Looks like a video I saw of Australia recently.
January:26:2011 - 11:36
Yes, it does! I was checking to see which side the steering wheels were on.
January:26:2011 - 12:21
It seems I’m lucky when it comes to Jeddah floods, even though I was a long time resident. Last year’s flood I was in Mecca visiting family, and this year’s flood(s) I’m in California, which had its own storm but no floods.
January:26:2011 - 12:33
That looks bad enough!
January:26:2011 - 12:53
Parts of my extended family are trapped all over the city as are friends. There is talk of fatalities out there. I have seen amazing photos of areas I’ve never seen flood before. My husband got stuck on the wrong side of the worst of it and drove to Mecca where he is now stuck (the road is closed between Jeddah and Mecca). It’s a mess. There is also a curfew in effect. I am guessing they want people out of the way and are concerned about attempted looting. Tahlia street is a river the Waly Al Ahad bridge is totally flooded out, sewage is running in the Andalus area and Hera Mall and King Abdul Azziz University both had fires.
Maybe we can get a drainage system now?
January:26:2011 - 18:10
Question: What has happened recently that Jeddah keeps getting hit with these massive floods? Is it simply a global warming thing(increased rains) or have they done something to their infrastructure to cause it to not function properly (ie: construction)
January:26:2011 - 18:10
Sandy my heart felt wishes to your husband…I hope he arrives home safe and sound.
January:26:2011 - 18:46
@Oby:
It’s a worldwide thing. Brazil and Australia were hit hard as well.
January:27:2011 - 01:16
@Oby
Thank you. I told him just to stay where he was until he’s sure it’s safe to move. I’d rather spend a few days apart knowing we’re all safe than trying to move around.
I easily believe it was more rain than 2009. The fatalities were higher then because a flash flood hit a densly populated area. But based on pictures I’m seeing and talk with people I know the flooding was much more widespread this time.
Interesting that the article says no underpasses were flooded. I know at least one that was at a critical jucture and it floods everytime because they built it with no drainage. (Intersection of Medina Rd. and Waly al Ahd- if anyone knows the city)
January:27:2011 - 10:59
Very true. It is very unfortunate that such a rich country like Saudi Arabia has no proper drainage/sewage system in most of the cities, especially in Jeddah, which is its commercial capital.
This time the rains were too heavy and lasted for about 3 to 4 hours and even more in some areas.My husband was trapped in the office in Balad district which had the worst floods. He abandoned the car and tried walking or rather swimming towards our district, but after 4 hours of struggle had to take shelter in a friend’s house nearby Balad. After a while, communication was lost as his phone went out of charge and electricity was cut off in the building he was staying.We were literally struck with grief and fear, thanks to my friends who supported us.
With the grace of Allah, he came back safe an hour ago, but extremely tired. I was and am so frustrated about the system failure in this situation. It is high time they build proper roads and sewage system, and give protection and support to the public in general.
It is essential for the govt. to act now firmly and do the necessary than keep talking about punishing the people responsible for the negligence in construction or those responsible for corruption.
Waiting for a safe sunrise and a safer sunset in the city….
January:27:2011 - 11:49
Wtf. Seriously, I am very ungrateful for this unfortunate event that lead up to me getting stuck at home with my insipid family. But thank God nothing happened around my region.
January:27:2011 - 12:46
I just saw where the King put millions into an “interfaith” center in Vienna, Austria. Ummmmm…I’m thinking that before he even considers something like that he MIGHT want to improve the infrastructure for his country. The rains can only get worse with global warming and there is a boom in population around the corner so potentially more people will be affected in time. How about it also providing some sorely needed jobs for the Saudis? It’s hard but honest work, it’s an investment in the future of the country and the King can spend his money in an area that is IMO more pressing than interfaith centers.
January:27:2011 - 12:49
Ummm… no.
I think funding the center is very important to the future of the country. It helps move the opinions of xenophobic Saudis out of the realm of terrorism, extremism, and general stupidity. If the country goes down the drain intellectually, it doesn’t matter if it also goes down the drain literally.
January:27:2011 - 14:28
So true!
January:27:2011 - 16:21
# 6
Could have something to to with La Nina’ ( opposite of El Nino), which this year is the strongest since the seventies ( did it rain in Jeddah then ? – but then I guess its’t possible to compare Jeddah
35 years ago with today.
But it’s the same allover. Look at the flooding’s in middle europe when you build to close to big rivers you ask for problems, if you don’t calculate flooding’s. Gues it’s the same in Jeddah, the planning or lack of same didn’t take water flow into consideration, because when it’s 30′ or 50 years
ago since the last time, it will never happen again (!). An it’s very difficult and costly to do it afterwards.
January:27:2011 - 17:35
John…
I am talking about the center in Vienna. Is there a center for interfaith dialogue in KSA? What I am saying is why fund interfaith dialogue in another country where there are a minimum of Saudis? why not do it where there are a LOT of Saudis? If he does that in KSA then I agree with you that would be a wise way to spend money because I think it might do what you suggest or at least start moving people thinking in that direction which would be a good thing. Otherwise I think there are other pressing issues rather than build it in a country where Muslims are already generally accepted, have protections and for the most part live freely.
January:27:2011 - 17:37
Indeed. To do it right will take lots of money, but more, it’s going to involve removing neighborhoods and buildings, re-routing roadways, and major digging nearly every part of town. That will do wonders for traffic and for people’s general mood, I’m sure.
January:28:2011 - 00:02
There is no proper system there is huge corrpution in all feilds you name it you have it my husband stuck in GAWAEZA and the dweage dam burst and hundreds of people died like last year died in jail underground but officially only 3 died .They have to accept the fact and try to maintian drain system not just hide in rooms .The rescue people were also seen very afraid why they are rescuing if they are afraid better to invite foriegn soldiers like they usally do for borders
January:28:2011 - 08:36
They keep expanding the city- they have all these rules about electrical line being in, and perimeter walls-but none regarding drainage. Anyway there is now a protest being broken up on Tahlia St. Not a huge one but unprecedented. People are mad. And the info cirulating on Twitter and FB is much more comprehensive than anything official agencies or websites will tell you.
January:28:2011 - 08:38
@S Ahmed,
I don’t know anyone that believes last years death toll- or this years lack of fatalities. They seem to not realize we’re all watching stuff on FB, Twitter and YouTube besides what some people are seeing with their own eyes.
January:28:2011 - 09:34
I am aware of both the ‘National Dialogue’ effort, which has a center, and government efforts to promote religious moderation and talk within the country. The ‘National Dialogue’ is not solely focused on religion, of course, but its programs are nationally televised over government channels and reported widely in both Arabic and English media. There are also government actions to remove extremists from mosques and schools, to tone down the religious rhetoric in school curricula, and of course, official denunciation of extremism and religiously-inspired terrorism. Do they count?
January:28:2011 - 22:44
Why can’t they have a drainage system in Jeddah, is it built on rock like Amman?
Chicago has many flooding problems, since it is very flat and next to a large inland lake. I remember years ago when they started building the Deep Tunnel project to hold water after the rains. They used an old quarry. I would visit some people near there and you could tell when they were blasting the tunnel because the dishes would shake on the shelves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_and_Reservoir_Plan
They’re still working on the tunnel–it’s cost $3 billion over 30 years. We still have flooding problems once in a while, and sometimes people can’t get to work after a bad storm, but the water goes down quickly and there is never any loss of life.