The King Abdullah underpass, flooded after rainfall in Jeddah, Saturday. (Okaz photo by Ahsan Al-Juhani) n UNDERPASSES FLOODED n MORE RAIN FORECAST FAHD AL-MUTAIRI & Saud Al-BarakatiJEDDAH: Heavy rains that fell late Friday night and continued into early Saturday morning hit flood-prone areas severely and caused traffic disruption across the city. Barely two days after it was opened by the mayor of Jeddah, the north-south underpass at the junction of Prince Majed Road and Al-Rawdha Road found itself flooded. The underpass was one of six tunnels that ended up in the same predicament, which a source from the Mayor's Office who wished to remain anonymous blamed on the failure to heed recommendations proposed after the fatal floods of 2009. “The mayoralty failed to increase the operational capacity of pumps to tackle water in underpasses when construction was being carried out,” the source said. “Pumps for the Prince Majed-Al-Rawdha Road tunnel failed to remove water despite it only being opened two days ago.” He said that the mayoralty had been given a budget of SR20 million to purchase new pumps for the King Abdullah and Madina Road junction underpass. “Bureaucratic measures, however, held up the purchase, even though the budget for it was set a year ago,” he said. A source in the mayoralty told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that pumps used at underpasses in Al-Jami'a and at the King Abdullah and Madina Road junction were insufficient to cope and broke down. “The ones in use at the underpasses on Prince Majed Road crossing Hira, and Prince Majed Road meeting with Al-Rawdha, were very poor,” he said. The Mayors' Office put its entire operational capacity on alert Saturday to remove water that had built up at five main underpasses following the failures in pumping equipment. The mayoralty had previously assured that all pumps were properly maintained and prepared to be fully operational in the event of heavy rains. According to reports, Jeddah received 41.7 mm of rainfall. The average amount of rain during winter (November to January) is about 51 mm. Jeddah received 90 mm of rain in the Nov. 25, 2009 flash floods. The heavy rains swamped large areas in the districts of Al-Samir, Ajawd, Braiman, Al-Safa, Al-Nahda and Al-Rehaili. On the other hand the southern and southeastern Jeddah including Sawaed, Harazat, Quwaizah and Kilo 14 experienced moderate to light showers. Residents in the eastern districts of Al-Samir and Al-Towfiq were inundated by the heavy showers.Residents of Quwaizah, however, heaved a sigh of relief as there were no floods in that eastern region of Jeddah. Heavy rain terrified residents in Bahra causing much chaos on the roads and resulting in the Civil Defense being called in to conduct rescue operations. A young man in a sedan was surprised by the power of the water which swept his car 300 meters. Civil Defense rescue teams succeeded in rescuing 15 female students trapped in their bus in addition to 27 workers who were heading to their work site on the Old Road. The chaos on the roads forced many residents to stay indoors. In the midst of the chaos a bulldozer from the Ministry of Transportation managed to tow a car to safety that was stuck on a rock. The security authorities mobilized officers to provide assistance to residents. The municipality at Bahra deployed hundreds of water tanks to pump away the storm water which covered many roads. The municipality teams also dug ditches to drain the water. Col. Omar Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Majnouni, Director of the Civil Defense in Bahra, said the Bahra Road was closed for two hours because the authorities were concerned for the safety of motorists. Meanwhile, the Civil Defense Department advised residents to be cautious and avoid hazardous areas because meteorological reports indicate there will be bad weather over various parts of the Kingdom. Civil Defense instructions can be obtained at the department's website www.998.gov.sa. The department said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) the reports from the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) indicates medium to heavy thunder storms, rainfall and active winds in Makkah region – Jeddah, Makkah, Taif, Thuwal, Bahra and Rabigh – and the regions of Madina, Qassim, Hail, Jouf, Northern Frontier, Riyadh and the Eastern Province.
