MAKKAH: Residents of the Al-Sharaie district, located in the east of Makkah, have sought the urgent intervention of the authorities to prevent a Jeddah-like flood from happening in their neighborhood.
The residents say this might happen if residential buildings continued to be built in the Al-Maghmas Wadi.
“We request your quick intervention to stop buildings from being constructed in this valley, something that would lead to a similar tragedy as was seen during the Jeddah floods,” said residents in their message to the authorities.
Residents say plots 2, 4, 12 and 13 are in the path of floodwaters and would be the first to suffer in case of a flood. They said a large number of people live in these areas which are also home to mosques, government buildings and schools.
Ahmad Al-Ghamdi, a resident of plot No. 4, said the narrowing of the wadi by buildings and farms has been going on for many years. “When rains continued to fall for three hours in the Ramadan of 1425A.H (2004), we were surprised by the floods submerging our homes and carrying away our cars,” he said.
He added that some residents had to wait for the floodwaters to dry before they could return home.
Al-Ghamdi said that after the rains and floods of that year residents began sending cables to the authorities calling on them to resolve the problem. He said a committee was formed consisting of representatives from the Civil Defense, the governorate and the Makkah municipality. “All that the committee had done was to asphalt some streets but nothing was done about the dangers poised by the construction of buildings that are obstructing the path of the floodwaters,” he said.
Al-Ghamdi said they read in the newspapers that a SR9 million project to drain the waters of the valley was given to a local company. “We’ve not seen either the company or the project,” he said. His neighbor, Hamad Al-Aqeel, said the Jeddah floods reminded them of their own predicament in 2004 and prompted them to again demand the authorities to stop the construction of buildings in the valley.
He said residents have written to the minister of rural and municipal affairs, the minister of agriculture and water, the mayor of Makkah, the director of the Civil Defense, and the director of the Department of Water and Sewage in Makkah.
