US news website, Al-Monitor, covered this week the flash floods that recently hit Saudi Arabia as more severe weather is expected, saying that heavy rainfall hit Jeddah, Mecca and Medina with more heavy rain expected in the kingdom.
The website cited videos circulating on social media showing different areas of Saudi Arabia, hit with severe flooding, including Mecca and Medina.
Heavy rain has been recorded across the kingdom since last Thursday. Mecca has been hit hard since last week, with rainfall drenching worshipers in the Great Mosque of Mecca’s courtyard. Online videos show whole neighborhoods such as Al-Otaibi coming to a standstill as roads were closed off.
Floods covered the streets of Jeddah just a couple of weeks after floodwaters overtook the area in November 2022.
Classes in schools and universities have been suspended in the Mekkah region.
Videos of the flash floods went viral as the water washed away everything in its path and killed two people.
Several factors have been blamed for the flash floods in the kingdom’s capital, among them climate change, inappropriate urban development and the geomorphological features of Jeddah.
Al-Monitor quoted the National Centre of Meteorology as warning about more severe weather conditions, raising the state of alert until Friday morning. The report predicted potential snow in areas of higher altitudes such as the Tabuk region.
Flooding Stirs Rare Public Anger
The Wall Street Journal revealed in a recent report titled ‘Flooding in Saudi Arabia Kills Two, Stirs Rare Public Anger’ that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has directed more resources toward what he calls “megaprojects,” including luxury seaside resorts and yachting marinas, while ignoring the deadly floods that hit the country’s second-largest city last week.
The report said that the deluge recalled floods in 2009 that left more than 120 people dead, and in 2011 when 10 people died.
Flash floods have caused problems in Jeddah for decades, where fingers were pointed on corrupt municipal contracting.
In 2017, de facto Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched an anti-corruption campaign in which arrests were made over the misallocation of funds that was blamed for the failure of the city’s drainage system.
In the past decade or so, Jeddah has installed two drainage canals and a 23-foot-high dam to deal with floodwater. Earlier this year, it allocated $106 million to upgrade drainage systems.
However, residents say they have seen little improvement in municipal services.
While the crown prince has announced a $20 billion revitalization project in Jeddah, the authorities there have started by leveling dozens of neighborhoods occupied largely by migrants that the government says were built illegally and foster criminal activities.
