JEDDAH: The rains brought out the best and the worst in people. While many went to help people in distress, some saw it as a chance for fun and games with irresponsible and dangerous driving.
The same rains which caused troubles for many had made the day for others; young men were celebrating the occasion of having rains in Jeddah. In the flooded streets one could see the small vehicles driving carefully while several larger ones were recklessly speeding along the inundated streets and spraying other traffic and pedestrians with water.
One of these speeders caused an accident on the city’s North Corniche that killed one Pakistani worker and seriously injured two others. It took the ambulance 45 minutes to arrive.
This was only one scene out of many that Arab News documented while touring around the main streets of Jeddah on Wednesday.
Jeddah lacks an adequate drainage system to handle effluence, much less the occasional tropical deluge. Low areas quickly become ponds, and water lingers for days afterward to turn into fetid mosquito nurseries. Some areas will see standing water for weeks to come because of the cool winter weather. Such areas include Al-Ruwais, Al-Bawadi and Al-Hamra districts.
Some other towns nearby Jeddah had their residents stranded in their homes. In Bahra people were seen waiting for the assistance of the Civil Defense or other authorities.
Rain, however, is a rare occurrence in Jeddah. So despite the calamity on the streets, Jeddawis converged on the Corniche to enjoy the rain next to the sea.
Local businesses also remained open, especially garages that saw booming business in repairing flooded engines. Taxi drivers also saw a windfall in the rainfall, increasing their charges in proportion to the increased demand for their services.
Misfar Al-Juaid, spokesman for the Jeddah police, confirmed that the number of accidents increased during these weather conditions. However, he would not give out any statistics of the number of road accidents that occurred on Wednesday.
Abdullah Al-Amri, the spokesman of the Civil Defense, said that they have received a flow of calls about fire and electric problems.
Al-Amri confirmed that a number of people got stranded in different areas of Jeddah and needed helicopters to rescue them.
The flooding closed down the old Madinah highway and the Jeddah-Yanbu Expressway.
Civil Defense reportedly put out seven fires in poor neighborhoods that were caused by electrical short circuits.
