Quwaizah is a ghost place haunted by destruction everywhere. Homes, shops and schools are in ruins. More than anything else, there are many shattered lives. Shops have broken doors, and schools are submerged in water and mud. During the day, people can be seen rummaging through the debris looking for their furniture, appliances or whatever they could lay a hand on. At night, there is only an eerie silence. There is no electricity, and only a few signs of life. Darkness covers the neighborhood. Muhammad Nasser, a tailor, described how he survived the devastating floods. of the “Black Wednesday.” “I was inside my shop when the rain started falling. Suddenly, the floodwaters rushed in. I closed the shop and ran to my house. When I got there, I went inside only to find water starting to pour in so heavily that I couldn't open the door. I was trapped and couldn't leave the house,” he said. As the water level rose, Nasser became terrified. He opened the window and started shouting for help. Alerted by the screams, a Saudi man came to his rescue, pulling him out through the window and helping him to make it up to the second floor. “Despite losing everything, I am so glad that I am still alive, thank God,” Nasser said. Hassan Al-Harbi said he went to the store to buy breakfast for the family and happily returned home with a bag of bread, cheese, and traditionally-cooked beans for a nice morning family get-together. “While we were having breakfast and drinking coffee, the water just rushed into the house with force, scattering our breakfast table. I was with my wife, my two daughters-in-law, and three children. I grabbed them all and climbed to the roof, and we waited there until everything was over,” he said. The children were afraid, because they saw cars crashing into the building and into each other, he added. They were like toys in a pool, he said. Al-Harbi lost his three cars – a Camry, GMC, and a Lexus. Muhammad Al-Juhani, a father of three, said he was at the second floor of his house and his children were all sleeping when the flood hit. The roaring of the flood was scary and the sound of cars crashing into each other was even terrifying, he said. The floodwater made its way into the house and quickly filled up the first floor. Al-Juhani woke his terrified children and took them all to the roof. They were stuck on the roof until 9 P.M. with no electricity, he said. “I lost all my official papers, my car registration and the ownership title of my house. The only thing I do have is my Saudi ID card because it was in my wallet,” he said. “Thank God we are alive and God will help us,” he said. Although there was much destruction in the neighborhood, there has been a ray of light and hope for its distressed residents. Three days after the flood, the government established a charity organization in the neighborhood through which volunteers of varying ages have put so much of their time and effort to help those who have suffered the flood. The volunteers distributed blankets, pillows, food and home appliances to needy families. Muhammad Abdullah, the coordinator of the charity organization, said that they are working in 12 flood-hit areas, but mainly in Quwaizah, Al-Jamia, and Al-Ajwad. They load relief supplies onto a big truck and go door by door asking people whether they need anything. “We cover 20 houses in one trip,” he said. Sometimes families ask for things they already have. “In such cases, we have to go inside the house and check for ourselves to make sure they really need the supplies,” he said.
