COMPENSATION OFFERED TO JEDDAH FLOOD VICTIMS

Authorities in Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jeddah have said that compensation will be offered to people who suffered damage resulting from heavy rains and floods that hit the city on Thursday.

Torrential rains caused flash floods in the city, prompting closure of schools, hampering traffic and stranding cars, bringing back to memory massive, deadly flooding that battered Jeddah in 2009.

“Those who suffered damage from rains and floods will be compensated along the lines of the 2009 mechanism,” spokesman for the Jeddah mayoralty Mohammad Obeid said.

He explained that those people have to apply to the state Crises and Disasters Control Centre to conduct a list of damage and take the legal measures, Okaz newspaper reported.

Two people died due to Thursday’s downpours and floods that were captured in videos showing cars submerged and swept away in flooded streets.

The rainfall was the highest in Jeddah in more than 13 years, according to the Saudi National Centre for Meteorology.

AFP Cars that were washed away by heavy rains are piled up in an alley in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah yesterday. At least two people died yesterday as heavy rains hit western Saudi Arabia, including the coastal city of Jeddah, delaying flights and forcing schools to close, officials said.