In the wake of Wednesday's floods which have claimed 86 lives and counting, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah, has ordered an immediate investigation into the drainage network of the city and a detailed report on the Jeddah Mayoralty's plans and its future projects with estimated funds to safeguard the city against floods. The investigation would help answer: why the drainage network was not capable of handling the 3 inches of rainfall that flooded the city Wednesday? The city did not announce flood advisory for its residents. At least 1,200 displaced families following Wednesday's floods have been sheltered in furnished apartments and hotels across Jeddah, said Lt. Gen. Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, chief of the Jeddah Civil Defense Department. The families would be provided with meals and clothes as part of government procedures in emergencies, he said. Special teams have been tasked with estimating the damage in the flood-stricken areas in Jeddah, he said. King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has earlier ordered immediate aid to the affected families. The King's instructions have provided unlimited funds to be used to shelter the displaced families until the situation gets back to normal, said Lt. Gen. Adel Zamzami, chief of the Civil Defense Department of the Makkah Region. Owners of properties damaged by the floods will be compensated once the damage has been assessed, he added. Search operations for victims will continue, he said. Zamzami, however, declined to blame a particular government department for the disaster, saying it was “God's power,” and ruling out that the government departments have fallen short in their duty. Zamzami has backed off from giving an initial damage estimate, but “a lot of houses and vehicles were totaled,” he said. A report of the flood damage will be available next week, he said.
