JEDDAH: Not all equipment of a 27-year-old photographer and Kilo 14 resident, Alaa Al-Muhaidi, was intact following the floods. Despite that he managed to take hundreds of photos of his district that will tell a story from the flood disaster for years to come.

Al-Muhaidi was sleeping when it first started to rain on Nov. 25, before waking up horrified after neighbor Um Ahmad started screaming, seeking help for herself and her five children. After helping his neighbors and family he started his journey with his camera for the next eight days.

The first photo he took was of a taxi almost submerged in water, with only the “taxi” sign on the top of the vehicle barely visible.

Al-Muhaidi’s camera had mainly taken nature shots and of five stars hotels. He now had to shift his focus and start documenting what became known locally as the “Jeddah catastrophe.”

What shocked Al-Muhaidi were the great cracks in streets. “How could a street suddenly break in the middle and vehicles fall inside?” Like others in the affected districts, Al-Muhaidi lost his home, furniture and car, which had forced him to focus on relocating. As a result Al-Muhaidi has delayed distributing his photos until he is done with his own priorities, including helping families. Other photographers who are living in better conditions have contributed in spreading what they believe is a message, according to a 28-year-old photographer Yasmeen Al-Khwashki who took photos of the ravaged districts of Quwaizah and Al-Harazat. She said it was not easy for her to take photos in Al-Harazat district where people were photo-shy.

“People were more friendly in Quwaizah but in Al-Harazat I could not take shots except for the muddy areas and the cleaning that was taking place in roads and businesses.”

Al-Khwashki, who posted her photos on Facebook, said her aim was to spread the message about the disaster, particularly as her family and friends had no clue about what was happening. It was a shocking experience for her as she documented the disaster.

Ali Al-Ghazzawi, a pharmacy student at King Abdulaziz University and part-time photographer, took his hobby a step further when he created his blog “Quwaizah Aftermath.”

Al-Ghazzawi wrote 11 diary notes about the catastrophe and posted links to photographs of the flooding on his Facebook page. Under each picture Al-Ghazzawi wrote the date and a caption, which either explains the difficulty he and his friends faced to reach the spot, or features direct quotations from residents.

The catastrophe did not pass without psychologically affecting Al-Ghazzawi and his friends, especially as they were providing aid and taking shots in different areas including Quwaizah, Wadi Maraikh and Kilo 14.

“Since we are not living in the area we saw things in a different light. These are people who were living just like us but suddenly lost everything.” Photos and videos that were popular and posted on YouTube and Facebook were from ordinary residents. Residents were initially taking shots of rain which is rarely seen in Jeddah before suddenly discovering they were actually floods.

Bador Al-Shalahi, a 23-year-old engineering student at King Abdulaziz University, took videos and photos of the start of the flood and found how it soon went out of control. “I was in the street next to my home and I was taking the video. I have been living in the area since childhood and have never seen anything like this. I climbed to a better spot where water could not reach me and I took two separate videos — one showing the beginning of the flood and the other showing how cars and buildings start to disappear,” he said.