Floods that have ravaged Saudi Arabia from its capital, Riyadh, to regions in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province have claimed 11 lives, with four individuals unaccounted for, according to official figures released by Saudi Arabia’s state-run news agency.
The SPA reports that out of those killed, seven were in Riyadh Region, two in the city of Araar, one in Al-Gunfuza and one in Al-Baha.
Civil defense squads were successful in rescuing 448 citizens and expatriates, the SPA also reported.
The rare floods were caused by thunderstorms and unusually high precipitation amounts within a short period of time, testing the drainage capabilities in many areas.
The last time Saudi Arabia’s desert climate and infrastructure were outmatched by floods was in 2009, when rainstorms soaked Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city, causing streets to turn into rivers. The catastrophe was described by Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense as the worst flooding in 27 years. As many as 77 died and billions in dollars in damage were inflicted on the city on Saudi Arabia’s western border on the Arabian Gulf.
After the Jeddah disaster, some citizens called for investigations into improving Jeddah’s ability to handle such downpours, including increasing investment in the city’s drainage capabilities.
When streets in Riyadh started flooding last weekend, residents of the Kingdom’s capital city took to social media to share photos of cars under water and traffic at an impasse over areas of deep water, particularly in underpasses in and around the city.
Writing in the Saudi Gazette‘s Friday, November 22nd edition, Abdo Khal criticized the lack of preparation for the floods. “Every year, we complain about ineffective drainage systems which have become a problem for every town and city in the Kingdom. Although large sums of money have been spent on these projects, they still fail to drain the rain and floodwaters….
“Every city has the same problem. What is said about Jeddah can also be said about Riyadh, Dammam, Makkah, Jazan, Abha, Buraidah and Arar…We need a fact-finding committee to investigate every big or small development project in every town and city so as to end corruption. We have not spent billions of riyals on drainage projects so that we can end up drowning in a drop of rainwater.”
