JEDDAH: Following Wednesday’s devastating floods in Jeddah, which left a trail of death and destruction, there is growing anger among residents at the state of the city’s infrastructure.
Some are even threatening to sue the municipality for damages, claiming the flash flooding was a direct result of municipal negligence. A group calling itself the “National Campaign to Save the City of Jeddah” has established an Arabic-language Facebook profile calling for action to ensure the city is never flooded again.
Thousands have rushed to join the group since it was set up on Thursday. By 5 p.m. on Friday, 6,191 Facebook users had joined the group. Thirty minutes later, 153 more people had joined.
“What we witnessed made it clear beyond any doubt that the city of Jeddah is in urgent need to be saved,” the group said on its page.
They have called for a national emergency plan to protect it. The group published nearly 200 photos and numerous videos of the devastation. The group creators said that, contrary to belief, Jeddah residents do not enjoy it when it rains “because of all the damages that happen due to a poor drainage system and poor road planning and infrastructure.”
According to a local e-newspaper, the campaign’s supervisor, Riyadh Al-Zahrani, said that the group was created to unite the efforts of people and organize volunteers to provide assistance and highlight the seriousness of the situation.
“People want to write a petition and send it to the governor. They want to express their feelings about the municipality. It has been shown now that it has no integrity,” Al-Zahrani was quoted as saying.
The King Abdullah Road underpass that was built less than four years ago was completely submerged. “Where is the drainage system? What was the vision of those who designed this project?” asked Al-Zahrani.
Lawyer Waleed Abu Alkhair, one of the campaign’s participants, said that everyone who has been involved in this chaos must be sued.
“We’ll do our best to take this to the Court of Grievances. We’ll ask for compensation to those who suffered losses and damages. That’s the least they should get,” said Alkhair.
Mufleh Al-Qahtani, chairman of the National Society for Human Rights, was reported as saying that victims of the floods have every right to file cases in the Court of Grievances against government bodies.
