Fatima, a Saudi woman and mother of three, was one of the survivors who escaped with her life when the disaster struck.

“I was asleep when I woke up to the sound of water flowing inside the house,” she recounted. “At first I thought there was a broken pipe in the house. When I heard the shouting and screams of my neighbors, I got scared and I knew something serious was happening. I took my children to the second floor. When I looked outside the window, the scene was horrific. There were cars, trees and people sweeping past.”

Dakheel Al-Barqi, and old man in a wheelchair, said he was helpless when water breached his home. His son Ahmad carried him to the second floor and placed him on top of a dresser. Ahmad then asked for his father’s forgiveness in case something were to happen to him and he went to search for his family.

Musleha Al-Otaibi, mother of one girl, was alone when flood struck. Her husband was in Makkah performing Haj.

“It was scary,” she said. “I was helpless and water was playing with me like a piece of wood. I managed to get a hold of my daughter and I held on to a lamppost.”

Later she was rescued by her neighbors.

Fatima, 10, said she was holding onto a windowsill when the flood struck. She did not understand what was happening. She was trying to collect her toys and put them in a small bag. Her mother was searching for her. When she saw her daughter, the mother was helpless and could not do anything to save her. She was praying that her daughter would hold on. A neighbor later rescued the girl.

Abdullah Al-Sulami was with his family and four of his sisters. When he left his house the situation initially appeared no worse than usual after a sudden downpour. The water was just a few centimeters high. Ten minutes later when he returned he found that the water covered the first floor of his home. Water came inside the house from the window. He tried to get in, but he was unable to fight the current.

The situation inside was different. Manal Al-Sulami, 10, was trying to open the doors to go outside, but she was unable to push against the rising waters. The situation got scary when the water came inside the house from the windows. Children began to cry because the water was cold. She and her sister held on to the doors. The sounds of children crying began to disappear when the water level inside the house began to drop. Two of Abdullah’s sisters, his brother’s wife and two of his sons died that day.

Aseela was the only survivor in her family. Her uncle Majed said: “The night before the disaster, my brother was in my house with his daughter Aseela. When it was time for them to go back home, Aseela begged him to stay in her uncle’s house.

He then left. She did not know it would be the last time she would see her father alive.”

The next day after the rain, Majed tried to call his brother but the phone was dead. A few hours later he learned that the disaster was greater and that most of the homes in his brother’s neighborhood were swept by floods. On the third day after the disaster, rescue workers found one of the children. Later Majed found the rest of the family, all seven of them, inside a morgue.

One of the most tragic stories was that of Nabeel Al-Sulami, a security guard at a factory. He left Rabigh for Jeddah to reach his family and help them on the day of the floods. The hard rain forced him to stop at some point because visibility was zero. He started to feel water coming inside his car. He went on top of his car waiting for help. When rescue arrived, he diverted their attention to a family stranded nearby. The floods then prevented rescue workers from reaching him. Then when he knew that he would die. He called his family to say goodbye to them and called his friends at work asking for their forgiveness. Then he was swept away by floods. Later, his body was recovered.

Ibraheem Al-Johani said that floods struck his house, and he was just praying to God to stay alive for another day. His neighbor managed to help him to the roof. He was shocked at what he saw. He knew how people are weak in the face of nature. He tied himself and his children with a rope. If they were swept away then he would go with them. He said that he counted at least 38 bodies floating past him, which would be 31 percent of those that were killed according to the official death count of 122.

Humaid Mosem is a Saudi man who was saved in nick of time. On the early morning of the rain, he decided to drive outside to Bahra, 40 km southeast of Jeddah. He drove on the exact roads that were struck by the floods. He received a phone call from his mother urging him to come back because his father was trying to go outside in the weather. He drove back and at one point he saw in the rear-view mirror the floods striking the area. He just managed to stay a step ahead of the water and today he is thankful he survived that day.