JEDDAH: Nine days after the floods, Jeddah is still suffering the disastrous after effects, including cracks in the asphalt on the streets and groundwater flowing into damaged houses. Many residents believe the mayoralty does not have the capacity to repair the damage wrought by the floods. Engineer Muhammad Al-Qahtani, Deputy Mayor of Jeddah for Services, has assured residents that the mayoralty can fix the roads and clean up the area of damaged furniture. He said hundreds of workers are currently working on the problem. He said the sewage accumulated on the streets is hampering the rehabilitation of some sites. To overcome this problem the mayoralty is coordinating its work with the National Water Company to find a solution. “The officials at the mayoralty are suffering from these roads as [much as other] roads users,” he said. Residents and citizens living east of Al-Sulaimanyia, complained that they suffer greatly every time it rains. In particular they have to deal with rising groundwater. They have had no option but to hire huge machines to pump this water from the roads and streets into flood canals which run into the sea. They said the overflowing groundwater serves as a breeding ground for mosquitoes, insects and rodents which can cause fatal diseases. Muhammad Shareef and Muhammad Al-Shahrani who live in the district said they have suffered significant damages from the groundwater. They claim that the mayoralty is not doing much to help them. They said most of the tenants have moved to other districts, pointing out that all the ground floor flats in their buildings have been abandoned by tenants. They said the floods have damaged the streets to such an extent that only four-wheel-drive trucks can use them. They claimed that they have had to fork out a great deal of money for spare parts every two or three months to replace shock absorbers, tires and bumpers.
