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Tuesday, December 01, 2009 RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has ordered an immediate payment of SR1 million ($266,000) to the families of each person who died in last week’s flooding in Jeddah. The king also ordered the setting up of a high-level committee to study the extent of the damage and recommend policies to ensure that it does not happen again, local newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Thursday, November 26, 2009 JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia's civil defence said Thursday that 77 people were killed in intense flooding in Jeddah and nearby areas, and that scores could still be missing. Jeddah civil defence spokesman Abduallah al-Omary said most of the deaths occurred in vulnerable areas in the city's eastern and southern districts after a downpour on Wednesday. Many of the dead were in automobiles and buses caught up in the rising waters, according to witnesses. Based on calls from worried locals, 351 people were missing, Omary said. In some areas roads were still under more than one metre (three feet) of water on Thursday. "The water has gone down and things are getting better today compared to yesterday. We are doing our best to make things easier for the people still stuck," he said. A 90-millimetre (3.5-inch) downpour hit the Red Sea city and its surroundings, flooding roads and tunnels and collapsing some older buildings and homes. At least four of the d...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 JEDDAH: Flooding killed at least 11 people in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port city of Jeddah on Wednesday after a heavy downpour, with more deaths feared, a civil defence official said. The 11 victims were believed to have drowned, the official said, requesting anonymity. The storm struck the western Saudi city in the morning, flooding streets. In one part of Jeddah, a bus could be seen submerged under several metres (yards) of water in an underpass. A witness told a French news agency by telephone he had seen several bodies beside another bus that overturned in the storm. Major roads remained gridlocked by traffic late on Wednesday after the rain stopped and floodwaters receded, witnesses said. The storm also stranded hundreds of Muslim pilgrims in buses headed from Jeddah to Makkah for the first full day of the annual hajj. Traffic accidents were reported on the 80-kilometre (50-mile) stretch from Jeddah to Islam's holiest city, where some 2.5 millio...