Despite repeated complaints to the Mayor's Office and the increasing threat of dengue fever, residents of the Al-Ajaweed 2 district of Jeddah say that still nothing has been done about leftover rainwaters in the area. “It was only by some miracle that we didn't die,” said local resident Jarallah Al-Ghamdi, who was struck by dengue fever along with six members of his family a month ago. “Lots of other people in the neighborhood were bitten by mosquitoes and got seriously ill as well.” According to Al-Ghamdi, he himself lodged “dozens” of complaints with the Jeddah mayoralty. “We also provided them with papers documenting the threat posed to the area by the water lying there, but we have never had an appropriate response,” he said. According to Al-Ghamdi, five of his neighbor's family were also afflicted with dengue fever and spent a month seeking treatment at various hospitals. Nasser Al-Sufari, another local resident, said that the water gathered in the neighborhood was not rainwater but in fact the remains of sewer overflows from the nearby district of Al-Ajwad 1. “When the rains hit in November it caused water levels to rise and the streets turned into lakes that still haven't been got rid of,” Al-Sufari said. An official at the Mayor's Office who preferred not to be named said that areas of stagnant water were being continually sprayed across the city to combat the threat of mosquitoes. Machinery, he said, was also being used to deal with open areas of water, and that they were “concentrating on the most affected districts first”. “We'll set to work on the Al-Ajaweed district within the next few days,” the official said.
