Governor of Makkah Region Prince Khalid Al-Faisal thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for ordering the prompt provision of all possible assistance to lessen the effects of harms that inflicted those who were affected by rainfall and floods in the Province of Jeddah and its surroundings. He also extended thanks to the Deputy Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for assigning Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior, to hold an extraordinary meeting with the concerned ministers on Sunday next to eradicate the problem. In a press conference following an inspection tour of the flood-inflicted Jeddah neighborhoods, Prince Khalid Al-Faisal described the rainfall level which hit Jeddah yesterday as very large, amounting to about 111 mm to 120 mm. During the tour, Prince Khalid Al-Faisal was accompanied by Governor of Jeddah Province Prince Mishaal bin Majed bin Abdulaziz; and Mayor of Jeddah Province Dr. Hani Abu-Rass. The Governor of Makkah Region attributed the losses inflicted by Jeddah Province following the heavy rainfall to the lack of the province to rain and flood waters draining system, drawing the attention to the fact that all concerned authorities have been instructed to urgently provide assistance and carry out rescue operations for the trapped and the needy using the available capabilities at their disposal. He paid tribute to the heroic examples showed by several citizens in assisting those in problem. He lauded the keenness of the prudent leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to speed-up the implementation of future projects in Jeddah Province to uproot the problem. He said he would report the situation to Sunday's meeting to be chaired by the Second Deputy Premier. In his report, Prince Khalid Al-Faisal vowed he would state what should be done to prevent the repetition of what had happened. He announced that the districts most affected by the rainfall and floods were Altawfeeq, Alsamer, Alnakheel, Alhamrah, Alkandarah and Ummal Khair, noting that the number of death toll was four, those rescued by evacuating helicopters until last night were 466, those rescued by ground teams were 951. He went on to say that power current was restored to 61547 out of 69638 customers, rations were granted to 575 people and 300 persons were offered shelter. Prince Khalid Al-Faisal disregarded what he called "temporary solutions" to the problem, vowing that ever-lasting solutions, based on thorough, comprehensive but speedily-conducted studies, will be adopted.
