A total of 3,519 checks are eventually expected to be distributed. The newspaper did not disclose the amount of money disbursed but quoted Maj. Ahmad Al-Harbi, Civil Defense media director for the flooding crisis, as saying that the checks represented 75 percent of the total compensation.

He said the compensation was for damaged homes, shops, warehouses, hospitals and other properties.

Al-Harbi said the search and rescue teams have searched in vain for 30 missing people for 117 days and will continue their operations in the most affected areas.

He added that a total of 2,071 out of about 10,000 damaged vehicles have been valued by special estimating committees so far. He did not say when the owners would be compensated.

The compensation checks were distributed at the main Civil Defense building in Al-Sharafiyah district after the ID numbers of eligible individuals were published in local newspapers.

Many of those who received checks protested at the amount of compensation, saying it was not enough, while calling for a reassessment of their damaged properties.

However, officials at the Civil Defense and Finance Ministry believed that the amounts were enough and rejected their demands.