JEDDAH — Muhammad Al-Baqami, spokesman of the Jeddah Mayoralty, said that the mayoralty will evaluate all rainwater drainage projects in the wake of flooding resulted from torrential downpour that lashed the city on Thursday. Speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, he said: "The projects have contributed to limiting the damage, especially since the rain was three times more than what occurred in the Jeddah torrential rain 11 years ago. The heavy downpour received by Jeddah last Thursday reached 182 mm, as the rain continued for eight hours incessantly." Al-Baqami said that field work related to removal of water and cleaning up after the flooding was still going on. He revealed that mayoralty will come up with a statement that will shed light on all the details of the rainy situation and its field results. Earlier, National Center for Meteorology (NCM) spokesman Hussein Al-Qahtani said that the heavy rain that hit Jeddah was the highest ever recorded rainfall in the coastal city. The rain on Thursday lasted for about eight hours – from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. – and amounted to 179.7 millimeter of water, according to the center's monitoring stations, he said in a statement issued on Friday. Two people died in the flooding that brought back the shocking memories of devastating floods that struck the city exactly 13 years ago. Several people trapped inside submerged vehicles were rescued. Swimmers from Jeddah Civil Defense rescued many motorists trapped in the inundated King Abdullah Road tunnel. Flights and road traffic were disrupted for several hours as major arteries and highways were inundated. Several streets in Jeddah's residential neighborhoods were flooded, causing the breakdown of many vehicles.
