A fire at the Social Status Court (SSC) in Jeddah has resulted in a three-week power outage and created in an estimated 3,000-case backlog.

Several citizens were angry because they were prevented from entering the court. Some said that they had been coming to the court for days but could not sort out their paperwork because of the power outage.

Amal, a customer, said she had been forced to take leave several times for a number of days to complete her paperwork.

“Every time I come here, the employees say there is no electricity,” she said.

Many elderly people were seen waiting outside the court in the blazing sun hoping to get in and complete their documentation. More than 3,000 transactions were delayed because of the three-week power outage.

Judge Ibrahim Al-Qunni, head of the court, said the power problems would be solved soon. A source at the Civil Defense said the cause of the fire that broke out recently in part of the court stemmed from the pressure on the electricity meters. It was successfully contained and distinguished before spreading to other parts of the building.

The source said there were also problems with the connecting cables, which needed to be repaired by a specialized technical team.

When the fire broke out, security officials at the scene refused to admit anyone, saying there were no employees at their desks because of the electricity problem.