Residents in Taif, Makkah and Jeddah are living in fear because moderate to heavy rain over these areas last week caused significant flooding, damage to property, traffic accidents, power outages and deaths.

According to reports in local media, residents believe that the flood projects in various cities promised by officials are ineffective and unlikely to provide much protection if there is more heavy rainfall this winter.

The rainfall last week caused such problems that Makkah Gov. Prince Mishal bin Abdullah interrupted his holiday to oversee mopping up and rescue operations.

Citizens in various parts of the Kingdom say that officials must be held accountable for the continued flooding in their neighborhoods, including prosecuting them.

Fuad Al-Shammari from Jeddah said officials are taking citizens for fools by claiming every year that they are prepared for rain in winter. He said the government must act against officials failing to carry out these projects because citizens are suffering because of their mistakes and negligence.

Abdulrahim Al-Khatim, another citizen, said that the engineering departments at local municipalities, and contractors, are failing to pay proper attention to flood prevention projects.

The Human Rights Commission recently said that continued flooding in local neighborhoods is a result of poor supervision, which should be treated as a criminal offense.

Meanwhile, the Jeddah municipality announced that it secured 512 machines to pump water from 688 flooded locations. It said that it has prepared for the rainy season by deploying 1,600 workers in morning and evening shifts.

Citizens and residents should avoid areas where there is a possibility of flooding, said Col. Saeed Sarhan, spokesman of the Civil Defense in Makkah.

Recent rain in Taif saw flooding which forced officials to rescue 15 citizens. There was also significant damage to cars. The problem areas were Al-Muntazah, Wadi Lia, Al-Sir and Al-Hada.

Taif Gov. Mohammad Al-Mokhrij said the flooding was caused by weeds and mud blocking a storm drainage tunnel that the governorate had built in Al-Muntazah.