I must admit that when we first got rain, I was among those excited for it and enjoying it. I had no idea how much damage a few hours of steady rain could do. At KAUST there was some water damage to houses, cars, and buildings, but we were well taken care of, and to the best of my knowledge nobody was injured as a result of the flooding. Parts of Jeddah weren’t so fortunate. It has been confirmed that over one hundred people were killed as a result of the rain, and some estimates are much higher. I was shown one tunnel (really more of an underpass) where many cars got stuck and people drowned. The older parts of Jeddah tend to be less affluent as well as less prepared with any sort of drainage system, and these areas were hit the hardest. The forecast shows more heavy rainfall over the next few days.
A classmate of mine invited me to go with him to Jeddah today to help with a volunteer group called “Friends of Jeddah.” The original plan was that we were going to be passing out supplies such as food, blankets, and diapers in some of the harder hit areas, but these areas were being evacuated as we got to Jeddah. Plan B entailed us working in a warehouse, organizing and packing donated supplies. It was truly a humbling experience to see all of the generosity. Hundreds upon hundreds of Jedawis, majority teenagers and young adults, showed up to lend a hand. Even with so many people, it was a struggle to package the incredible amount of the supplies that had been donated and collected in just a day. The energy and sense of urgency in the room was contagious. For hours on end people were working tirelessly, and even when we heard the call to prayer it was only with some encouragement and in turns that people took a few minutes off to go pray. Undoubtedly we were all praying the same prayer, “Please be with the people of Jeddah.”
