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trapezius
Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 1670
Location: Land of Culture of Death & Destruction
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 Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:38 pm Post subject: Saudi rains/flooding make international news! |
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Saw this on BBC World yesterday.
Saudi flood deaths rise amid anger toward authorities
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8384866.stm
Flood deaths in Saudi Arabia rise to around 100
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8384832.stm
Both links have videos.
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The number of dead in floods following Saudi Arabia's heaviest rains for years has risen to around 100, officials say.
Dozens are said to be missing and some reports suggest the death toll will rise further in the city of Jeddah.
The authorities say they are providing food and temporary housing for those made homeless and considering how to compensate the worst affected.
But critics accuse them of negligence and say this "disaster" should never have been allowed to happen.
A lawyer has threatened to sue the Jeddah authorities, while thousands of people turned to the social networking site Facebook to vent complaints about inadequate infrastructure on a specially created webpage.
Many of the victims in the Red Sea port city died in their vehicles after the flash floods - either by drowning or in car crashes. Some reportedly were killed when bridges collapsed on top of them. 
Heavy rainstorms on Wednesday hampered the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the nearby city of Mecca, but officials said there were no pilgrims among casualties of the flooding.
Apart from Jeddah, flood deaths were reported in Rabigh and Mecca. |
In a country as rich as Saudi, such deaths and damage resulting from a [relative] tinkle are at best negligence, and at worst, downright criminal.
Amazing 566 pics of Jeddah flooding here, as well as a bank account you can donate to to help victims:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=188573576805
20 videos as well, on the Facebook group. The group already has 21,000+ members! |
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trapezius
Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 1670
Location: Land of Culture of Death & Destruction
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| Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:27 pm Post subject: |
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And here is a nice little youtube video showing the deep s h i t that Jeddah is in, literally. It is by the famous Saudi Jeddah-based engineer and urban planner, Zaki Farsi. The video is of a presentation he made to the prince of the region a couple of months ago on how to save Jeddah.
Go to 1:49 to see a satellite photo showing the sewage lake just outside Jeddah... it is 10 km long now, as long as the Red Sea Creek!!! Soon we will all drown in s h i t 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuYOiA_xOlk |
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007
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2684
Location: UK/Veteran of the Magic Kingdom
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| Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 2:00 pm Post subject: |
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Well, it seems Jeddah is not anymore the bride of the red sea.! 
trap, buy a zodiac with a 5HP engine for the next big flood of Jeddah, you never know what will happen .......
Wasta + corruption = flood in Jeddah! (not only water flood, it will be also a human flood! ). |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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Urban planning has been ignored for too long. I just finished Coll's book on the Bin Laden family and their part in the early development and building/modernization of especially the Jeddah area. Speed was more important than planning. There was likely too much ignoring of the wadis - which originally formed from just this kind of occurrence - and sewage systems are the Gulf can be problematic. Of course, anytime you have streets under water like this... sewage is going to back up into houses. That happens everywhere. Also I hear that many areas lost power and that means the sewer pumps stop. My Arabic doesn't extend to getting much out of that video Trap...
One thing about the Gulf area is that you can easily see where the flood plain is if you want to. Oman had tried to plan around this issue, but when a typhoon hits, all bets are off... that is when you learn that the whole area along the sea where all the towns are is flood plain.
I suspect that many of the deaths will be just like happened in Oman... sightseers who headed out to see what was happening. The government constantly warns against going out when it is flooding, but it seems to be human nature and the Arabs do love rain.
VS |
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007
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2684
Location: UK/Veteran of the Magic Kingdom
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| Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 2:59 pm Post subject: |
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| veiledsentiments wrote: |
| Urban planning has been ignored for too long. |
Well, not only Urban planning is ignored, human planning is also most ignored in this part of the world.
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| I suspect that many of the deaths will be just like happened in Oman... |
.. and New Orleans, Louisiana, where thousands of people lost their lives in the subsequent floods caused by Katrina hurricane!
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| ..,...but it seems to be human nature and the Arabs do love rain. |
I hate rain when it is over the border! |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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| 007 wrote: |
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| I suspect that many of the deaths will be just like happened in Oman... |
.. and New Orleans, Louisiana, where thousands of people lost their lives in the subsequent floods caused by Katrina hurricane! |
Talk about taking a quote completely out of context to make a completely unrelated comment.
There had been plenty of warnings of what would happen from a close hit of a hurricane on a city that the majority of which is below sea level. Just as I would have never invested in property on a man made island in a country like the UAE, I would have never bought a home below sea level in one of the poorest states in the US.
VS |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuwait used to have loads of pedestrian underpasses that were unuseable because they were built with negative camber. |
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Cleopatra
Joined: 28 Jun 2003
Posts: 3657
Location: Tuamago Archipelago
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| Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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While it's true that long-term planning and attention to boring details like drainage and plumbing are often non-existent in Saudi Arabia, let's not forget that the richest country in human history, the US, made a disgraceful show of planning for, and responding to, entirely predictable floods in a major urban area. I know that there have been huge complaints about the official response to recent floods in the UK and Ireland too.
BTW I've heard that some teachers in Jeddah have been told not to go back to work until the middle of next week at the earliest. Some people are in for a nice long Eid break.... every cloud has a silver lining I suppose. |
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Never Ceased To Be Amazed
Joined: 22 Oct 2004
Posts: 3500
Location: Shhh...don't talk to me...I'm playin' dead...
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| Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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Lousyana...ye-hah!
NCTBA |
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Sheikh N Bake
Joined: 26 Apr 2007
Posts: 1307
Location: Dis ting of ours
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| Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 5:39 am Post subject: |
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Cleo's comment: I don't disagree--and this from a nation that was able to build the Panama Canal 95 years ago where the French had failed. If our country could handle that plumbing, then New Orleans should have been better protected. Well at least we don't have sewage trucks in the US. Even Dubai depends on them at all times.
The Katrina debacle could have been avoided with very low-tech but effective Cuban-style neighborhood warning systems (local neighborhood town criers, if you will, regularly report on hurricanes and evacuation status). What happened with Katrina is thanks to the bumbling incompetence and ignorance of Bush/Cheney Republicans who believe leadership requires complete neglect of everything including proper oversight of their foreign wars.
New Orleans is still a delight to visit, by the way, and all the best areas are intact. Obama would surely clean up the Ninth Ward if he hadn't inherited such a complete mess of everything from the Republicans. He can't fix everything. |
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tacomaboywa
Joined: 18 Jan 2009
Posts: 194
Location: The Magic Kingdom
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| Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 7:10 am Post subject: |
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| Sheikh N Bake wrote: |
What happened with Katrina is thanks to the bumbling incompetence and ignorance of Bush/Cheney Republicans who believe leadership requires complete neglect of everything including proper oversight of their foreign wars.
New Orleans is still a delight to visit, by the way, and all the best areas are intact. Obama would surely clean up the Ninth Ward if he hadn't inherited such a complete mess of everything from the Republicans. He can't fix everything. |
I agree, but I hope Obama will try his best to fix as much as possible.
---------------
Avoid M-Trading
http://www.tulbah.org/ |
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Asda
Joined: 01 Jun 2008
Posts: 231
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| Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:00 am Post subject: |
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Dear all,
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=128990&d=1&m=12&y=2009&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom
I don't know if it's a twist of irony as to why they've named the sewage dump Waadi Misk or Musk Valley...!?! Maybe it's a bit like the area in/near Detroit where all the black slaves were 'housed' called Paradise Valley...
Now, I live just west of the expressway and Tahliya (that's kind of east central Jeddah). I'm worried because rain is forecasted for the next 4-5 days and given that there is no drainage here, a little bit of rain results in major roads being flooded by about 8-10 inches on average...
May God protect us all... |
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007
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2684
Location: UK/Veteran of the Magic Kingdom
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| Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:39 am Post subject: |
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| Sheikh N Bake wrote: |
| What happened with Katrina is thanks to the bumbling incompetence and ignorance of Bush/Cheney Republicans who believe leadership requires complete neglect of everything including proper oversight of their foreign wars. |
This is one of the 7 reasons why I do not trust Uncle Sam!
| Quote: |
| New Orleans is still a delight to visit, by the way, and all the best areas are intact. Obama would surely clean up the Ninth Ward if he hadn't inherited such a complete mess of everything from the Republicans. He can't fix everything. |
Well, I never ceased to be amazed (not you NCTBA! ) how Obama received a Nobel Prize before he achieved anything useful for humanity!! |
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Oreally
Joined: 23 Nov 2008
Posts: 39
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| Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 11:43 am Post subject: |
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Hey. Almost none of us on Hajj knew anything about the floods. It was just on the trip out of Mecca when the iPhone came out and a glance on the Arab news gave us the 411. It did not seem to bad until we hit the ring road. Police had blocked of sections of the road, AND DID NOT PROVIDE DIRECTIONS on how to get around the obstructions. Those of us who were not from Jeddah had no idea how to move. It took over an hour to figure a way out of the city. We ended up on roads with major sink holes and meters of standing water. It is just God�s will that got us out of there. A complete lack of urban planning (city management) and expertise (of the police). Lets hope they spend the money on fixing things well ( and maybe implementing a street address system) instead of building the worlds largest tower.
Last edited by Oreally on Tue Dec 01, 2009 11:57 am; edited 1 time in total |
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trapezius
Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 1670
Location: Land of Culture of Death & Destruction
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| Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 11:50 am Post subject: |
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www.savejeddah.com
A website made by concerned citizens to find out who is responsible for the tragedy, and to bring them to justice!
Viva la internet revolucion!
(Use Google's translate tool to translate it) |
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