Nakheel District, east of the city, is facing an environmental disaster because of a mixture of rainwater, sewage and gasoline that is found in many areas of the district. The situation is the result of the heavy floods which last Wednesday broke the Umm Al-Khair Dam wall allowing large amounts of water to flow unchecked from Mariakh Valley. One resident discovered the problem when he started searching for his smashed car close to a gas station in the district. ”While I was looking for my car I walked in the water thinking it was just flood water,” said Mohammad Ali, a resident of Al-Nakheel District. He said that when he returned home, he felt pain in his legs and feet. When he was washing he discovered the smell of gasoline. According to some reports, various hazardous chemicals have mixed with rainwater in many areas of the city. People are complaining about the foul smell and fear an outbreak of disease. Mosquitoes and insects have been breeding all over the eastern districts, increasing the fear of Dengue fever and other diseases. “Our home was full of mosquitoes after the rain. We could not even spray the pesticides because if we opened our windows mosquitoes would come into our villa again,” said Laila Safhi, a resident of Al-Nakheel District. She added that her mother stopped spraying some of the pesticides after she heard some of the negative side effects on the health of children. Most residents of Umm Al-Khair and Al-Nakheel districts cleaned their water tanks after they were polluted by the flood. Some of them used cars batteries to run the water pumps in their houses because they did not have electricity. “Since last Wednesday, I have used the car battery to pump the water from the lower pool to the upper tanks,” said Hassan Bangladeshi, a plumber in Al
