Prince Mishaal’s order comes on the heels of Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal’s statement on Wednesday that the government planned to provide compensation to victims of the flood.

Eight of the 10 people who died in the floods were expatriates. They included two Chadians, one Bangladeshi, one Yemeni, one Turkish, one Egyptian, one Filipino and one Nepali. The other casualties were Saudi.

It was also reported that 4,553 houses and 4,591 cars were destroyed or damaged in the flood.

The government has also extended the tenures of the 58 damage assessment teams and permitted families whose homes were damaged to stay in their temporary accommodations for another week.

There are 5,731 families in various shelters, said director general of social affairs for charity societies in Makkah province Abdullah Al-Tawi on Thursday. He said SR33 million is being distributed as emergency aid to the flood victims.

“The amount has been deposited in the bank accounts of charity organizations to pay for items such as clothes, furniture, refurnishing of houses and home appliances under the supervision of the Jeddah governorate,” he said.

The official made the statement after many refugee families expressed fears that they would be evicted from their temporary accommodations before repairs on their homes were complete.

Government inspectors were seen on Thursday making inspections of at least one flooded compound to assess damages.

The compound, located off Palestine Road, received significant damage from the failure of the Um Al-Khair check dam a day after the rains that was supposed to protect nearby neighborhoods.

The inspectors were asking for photocopies of iqamas (work/residency permits), driver’s licenses, vehicle registration papers and several passport-size photos. They also asked for lists of damaged household items and wherever possible, purchase receipts of the items on the list.

Inspectors assured compound residents that compensation would be forthcoming though it might take some months.

A resident  of a compound in Hamra district said an inspector told them compensation would be as much as SR35,000 for damaged household items and SR25,000 for each damaged vehicle. 

There has been considerable speculation as to whether foreign nationals would receive compensation.

The city governor’s recent comments might offer some comfort to expatriates that officials are at least recognizing that the flood affected many non-Saudis in a city populated by a large number of legal and illegal foreigners.

After last year’s floods, Dr. Ali Al-Tawati, an economics analyst was reported as saying that most flood victims were unlikely to get paid any compensation for lost or damaged property because their insurance policies did not cover natural disasters. Even if that is the case, an increasing number of claimants in the will argue that the failure of the flood-control infrastructure, such as the Um Al-Khair check dam, was the cause of their losses.