JEDDAH: Arab News toured the badly-hit area in Kilo 14, east of the Haramain Expressway on Wednesday. Most of the stores were out of business due to last week’s flash floods.
Only stores located on higher ground managed to reopen but they too suffered losses. Some of the restaurants were forced to open for business despite the damage done because families in the neighborhood had no food at home. According to the families, some restaurant owners were marking up their prices because of the high demand.
Arab News visited a large store selling clothes and kitchen appliances. The store was badly damaged and the owner lost had 90 percent of his goods.
The storeowner said he lost 90 percent of his merchandise. He refused to speak further and said a photo of the store says it all. Ali, one of the workers in the store, described how he and his co-workers were watching the rain when “suddenly water started to flood the store and broke the glass door. The water was moving fast and in less than half a minute it was a meter and a half deep. The water moved too fast and swept us to the storage room. It was a horrifying scene with every man for himself trying to get out of the situation.”
Ali added that only a few of them managed to reach the first floor. They were trapped there for hours unable to go outside.
They saw the Civil Defense helicopter rescuing families on the other side of the street but unable to reach them. “The flood was moving fast and it was a death wish to go outside. I have never seen this much rain in my whole life, and according to the people living in the area they have not seen such a heavy rain in more than 30 years.”
Muhsin, another worker in the store, said the goods inside the store are totally damaged. Even if they wanted to clean and resell their products, they will not get five percent of their value.
“I do not know what the storeowner plans to do next, but according to him he will not be able to reopen until after two months. The storeowner was told by the authorities that the displaced are their priority at this stage and that once they are done with this they will look into businessmen’s problems,” he said.
