The Mayoralty reopened Monday the underpass on King Abdullah road, which was completely filled with water as a result of the heavy rains that lashed the governorate last week. All of the water has been pumped out of the underpass and it has been reopened to traffic and teams of maintenance and road cleaning workers. Engineer Ibrahim Kutubkhanah, Deputy Jeddah Mayor for Construction and Projects, said the King Abdullah underpass, which was flooded with water, is equipped with two pumps, each with a capacity of 2,500 cubic meters. However, the floods unleashed by last week's heavy rains exceeded the capacity of the pumps, as 7,500 cubic meters of water per hour rushed into the underpass which accumulated 70,000 cubic meters in ten hours time. Kutubkhanah said, “The pumping out of water is continuing in several areas and districts of Jeddah. Work is also going on in the Prince Majed underpass that is in the area of King Abdul Aziz University. There is coordination between the mayoralty and the university to solve the problem. The mayoralty is at present pumping out the water that has collected in the underpass. This water came from the drains of the university and the surrounding areas and collected in the underpass.” Kutubkhanah said that the city's southern storm water drainage channel has been cleaned and it has been cleared of debris, damaged cars, mud and sand that accumulated in the channel. The walls and bed of the channel will be rebuilt to facilitate the flow of water, he added.
