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FM AMCONSUL JEDDAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1641
INFO RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 8622
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 JEDDAH 000465 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PPD, SE/S-O, CA/OCS/ACS-NEA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2019 
TAGS: AEMR ASEC CASC ECON KPAO PGOV SA SENV
SUBJECT: THE GREAT JEDDAH FLOOD: CONTINUING CONCERN ABOUT 
DAMS, DRAINAGE, LEADERSHIP (CORRECTED COPY) 
 
REF: A. JEDDAH456 
     ¶B. JEDDAH457 
     ¶C. JEDDAH460 
 
JEDDAH 00000465  001.4 OF 004 
 
 
Classified By: Consul General Martin R. Quinn for reasons 1.4 (b) and ( 
d) 
 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  Public and media condemnation of the Saudi 
local government continues two weeks after flash floods 
inundated Jeddah. Concern has shifted from the plight of the 
flood victims to broader issues such as the disaster 
investigation and a Shoura Council meeting yesterday which 
urged government departments to prepare strategic plans for 
dealing with floods and other natural disasters. Public worry 
about the condition of the "Misk Lake" dam, briefly at the 
point of panic a week ago, has eased somewhat.  However, 
awareness is growing of the long-term hazard, especially in 
the event of renewed rain, and the Jeddah City Council is 
meeting on Wednesday to consider next steps, including a 
possible request for foreign/US expert assistance.  Critics 
have condemned official mismanagement and corruption while 
calling for independent oversight of government actions and 
seeking foreign expertise in urban planning, some alleging 
the involvement of royals in land sales in the flood zone. 
Opinion is divided over whether the current activism and 
open criticism of the authorities will result in permanent 
positive changes, with some predicting the official 
investigative commission established by the King will stop 
short of publicly identifying and punishing those who 
mismanaged Jeddah's infrastructure.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
Some streets still flooded, more rain possible 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
 
¶2. (C) Almost two weeks after flash floods struck Jeddah in 
what is being billed as "Jeddah's Katrina" (reftels), the 
hardest hit district, Quwaizah, in southeastern Jeddah, 
continued to have a foot of water on its major streets when 
ConGen officers visited it on Friday and Saturday. 
Relatively limited government assistance, such as food 
distribution and the presence of Civil Defense forces, was 
apparent.  According to press accounts, the floods claimed 
116 lives (including a 3-year-old US citizen), damaged more 
than 7,000 properties, destroyed upwards of 7,000 vehicles, 
and displaced at least 22,000 residents.  King Abdulaziz 
University, situated opposite Quwaizah, is reported to have 
suffered losses estimated at SAR 1.6 billion ($427 million) 
due to the flood.  With more rain possible and fears that a 
reservoir of raw sewage, located east of Jeddah at an 
elevation of 125 meters above sea level, will overflow into 
the city, the Consulate General issued a warden message 
advising US citizens in Jeddah to closely monitor weather 
forecasts and exercise extreme caution in traveling by road 
in the event of further rain or flash flooding. 
 
 
Misk Lake and the "preventive dam" -- the danger 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) A member of the Jeddah City Council (and until two 
weeks ago its chairman), Dr. Tarek Fadaaq, a city planner, 
briefed CG Saturday on the city's concerns regarding the 
so-called "preventive dam" (reservoir), located immedately 
southwest of the Misk Lake sewage dam.  The preventive dam 
contains "cleaner water" while Misk Lake contains raw sewage. 
Saudi engineers are working to fix the problem including 
diverting the water to a third dam or wadi (dry river bed). 
 
¶4. (SBU) The danger is that in the event of moderate to heavy 
rainfall there may be more flash flooding in Jeddah, 
primarily affecting the areas east of the main north-south 
Al-Haramain Ring Road Expressway, which were damaged in the 
November 25 flood, including Quwaizah, Kilo 11 and Kilo 14, 
but also potentially affecting some of the more affluent west 
Jeddah areas.  It is thought that the Expressway itself would 
act as a partial flood barrier, keeping most of the damage in 
the eastern part of the city.  The Misk Lake (earthen) dam is 
currently at the 10.2 meter level with 13 meters being the 
overflow/break point; normal level is 9 meters.  The second, 
 
JEDDAH 00000465  002.4 OF 004 
 
 
"preventive dam" is at 14 meters currently, the capacity 
being 15 meters.  In addition, there are 13 wadis in Jeddah 
running east to west, which have the potential in the worst 
case scenario, to fill with water to accommodate heavy 
flooding. The area of Palestine Street, on which the 
Consulate, a hospital, several hotels, and many businesses 
are situated, sits on one of these wadis. 
 
 
Possible request for US assistance 
---------------------------------- 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) It is possible that as a result of a meeting of the 
Jeddah City Council on Wednesday, the Saudis may request US 
technical/engineering assistance or consultation (as was done 
after the earthquakes near Madina last spring, when the SAG 
asked and paid for USGS consultation). With the cooperation 
of USMTM, the Mission is developing a picture of what 
resources could be brought to bear, but cannot act without a 
formal SAG request. 
 
 
Intense public criticism -- use of social media 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
 
¶6. (C) Public and media criticism of the local government's 
failure to prevent and respond to the disaster remains 
intense.  Al Watan Arabic daily reported that at a soccer 
match between Jeddah's two main teams on Saturday spectators 
at the stadium held up posters criticizing the government's 
handling of the floods.  Police quickly took away the signs, 
as public protests are prohibited in Saudi Arabia. Columnist 
Hussein Shobokshi (strictly protect) characterized the 
intensely critical Saudi press coverage of the floods as 
"one of the media's occasional flashes of brilliance," 
similar to the coverage of the 2002 fire at a Mecca girls' 
school in which students burned to death after religious 
police were alleged to have prevented them from fleeing the 
building without their abayas. Thankful the floods happened 
while the King, 2.5 million pilgrims, international media, 
and civil defense forces were near Jeddah for the Hajj, 
Shobokshi said that otherwise the problem would have been 
ignored.  Official media remain constrained, however. 
Shobokshi told us on Monday that a local newspaper declined 
to publish his criticism of government handling of the 
disaster, as he had expected.  Members of the public have 
bypassed censorship using social media, such as Facebook, 
Twitter, YouTube, and SMS, to document the destruction, 
organize private relief efforts, and harshly condemn those 
believed responsible for the largely preventable disaster. 
One blogger, citing government officials by name, wrote: "I 
spit on all thieves, corrupters and traitors who made life in 
Jeddah unbearable." 
 
¶7. (C) The public have also criticized the religious police 
(Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of 
Vice or mutawa), generally present in comfortable, 
air-conditioned shopping malls, for their absence from relief 
efforts.  Young Saudi volunteers have flouted the prohibition 
on gender mixing and rejected requests to segregate by 
gender.  One young female volunteer who appeared at the 
volunteer gathering point dressed for grubby work rather than 
in the usual mandatory abaya was told by a religious 
policeman to go home and come back properly covered; she 
refused, telling him "to get lost." 
 
 
Pointing fingers and assessing blame 
------------------------------------ 
 
 
¶8.  (C) Contacts and public reports attribute the flood 
disaster to a range of factors: (1) the Riyadh government's 
unwillingness to appropriate sufficient funds for Jeddah 
infrastructure projects (particularly for sewer and storm 
drainage systems that might have prevented flooding), (2) a 
culture of corruption that ensured only a fraction of 
appropriated funds were actually spent on stop-gap measures, 
(3) the government's profound lack of experience in urban 
planning and project management, and (4) shoddy work by 
contractors.  Two individuals -- Fahad Al-Suliman (cousin of 
 
JEDDAH 00000465  003.4 OF 004 
 
 
recently re-elected Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry 
board member Lama Suliman), former director of the water and 
sewage department, and his then-secretary, Motaz Raslan -- 
have been singled out for allegedly "stealing billions" of 
Saudi riyals intended for drainage projects.  (Both are 
believed to be living abroad, having enriched themselves at 
public expense.)  A source at the SAG's preferred 
construction company, the Saudi Bin Laden Group, denied any 
responsibility for the flooded underpasses or possible 
breaches to the containment area for untreated sewage, "Misk 
Lake" -- saying the company builds exactly what the 
government instructs it to build. Citizens are questioning 
why the Bin Laden Group has been selected to build another 
barrier around Misk Lake if its previous construction was 
inadequate. 
 
 
Blaming the victims ... 
----------------------- 
 
 
¶9.  (C) Some Jeddah Municipality officials initially implied 
that the flood victims were partially to blame for their 
predicament, suggesting they were squatters who had built 
homes illegally in a flood plain.  Subsequent media accounts 
have rebutted the contention.  Radio journalist Samar Fatany 
(strictly protect) and Shobokshi asserted that several 
prominent Saudi princes, including the son of a former Saudi 
king, had subdivided and sold to the public through agents 
the low-lying land in Quwaizah that bore the brunt of the 
flood.  They noted the presence of government institutions, 
including civil defense and schools, and government services 
such as water and electricity as further proof that 
structures were built legally -- or at least permitted due to 
royal influence. 
 
 
"Saudization" and failure to seek foreign expertise 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
 
¶10. (C) Fatany partly blamed the government's failure to 
prevent or adequately respond to floods on Labor Minister 
Ghazi Algosaibi's push to employ Saudis, saying Saudi Arabia 
lacks expertise and desperately needs foreign talent in key 
fields such as urban planning and public administration.  Her 
husband -- Arab News editor Khaled AlMaeena -- editorialized 
today that having failed their own people, it is time for 
Saudis to turn to experts in other countries.  Shobokshi 
agreed, saying that for years he has recommended the Saudi 
government consult the Netherlands (experts in holding back 
the seas), Britain (for sewer drainage systems), and 
Singapore (for waste water treatment).  The Saudi Government 
has not (yet) requested official US assistance. 
 
 
A watershed moment for civil society ... 
---------------------------------------- 
 
 
¶11.  (C) Commentators disagreed whether the flood and its 
aftermath would lead to permanent positive changes in Saudi 
government and society.  Shobokshi described the disaster as 
a wake-up call for Saudis, who saw sections of this wealthy, 
cosmopolitan city resembling conditions in Bangladesh or 
Nigeria.  As a result, he predicted the Kingdom will reduce 
its level of foreign assistance, saying "Saudis will object 
to buying new textbooks for Lebanese children" when there are 
un-met needs at home.  He doubted whether the flood would lead 
to permanent reforms, since internet activists would 
eventually exhaust themselves and fall silent.  Fatany was 
optimistic, praising young Saudis' activism in response to 
the flooding, and forecasting "they would sweep away the 
corrupt older generation."  They and others agreed on the 
need for independent oversight of government actions, with 
Fatany calling for the government to authorize civil society 
groups (currently banned).  Some local commentators expressed 
skepticism that the investigative committee formed by the 
King -- consisting solely of government officials -- would 
punish the corrupt individuals responsible for mismanaging 
Jeddah, although virtually everyone believes Jeddah Mayor 
Adel Faqeeh will be removed from office.  A few defend the 
mayor, in office five years and the force behind the Jeddah 
 
JEDDAH 00000465  004.4 OF 004 
 
 
20-year "Strategic Plan"(unveiled barely a week before the 
flood), and see him as the unfortunate sacrificial goat. 
 
 
¶12.  (C) COMMENT: Twelve days after Jeddah's Great Wednesday 
Flood, the disaster remains the main topic of conversation in 
this city.  The media have been granted relatively free 
license to castigate local government officials and 
contractors deemed responsible for the incident and to keep 
the catastrophe in the public mind. In the meantime there has 
been a surge of civil society activity in Jeddah, volunteers 
coming forth to help flood victims in the face of municipal 
inefficiency and incompetence.  Among these, the American 
International School of Jeddah and the American Business 
Group of Jeddah (ABJ) are collecting donations for victims, 
to be distributed through licensed local organizations such 
as the Al Bir Society and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and 
Industry (JCCI).  Post will continue to monitor and report. 
END COMMENT. 
QUINN