JEDDAH: Insurance experts say that damages from Wednesday's floods could amount to up to SR1.5 billion, while also warning that not all policy holders may be covered for compensation for natural disasters. Insurance specialist Abdulillah Sa'ati said that considerable damage was done to vehicles and homes invaded by the waters, and said that a single formulation of insurance policies was necessary to ensure that everyone is compensated. “People should check their policies and should not content themselves with third party insurance, which is what a lot of people have,” he said. “That type of policy doesn't cover compensation for natural disasters.” Hisham Al-Shareef, who works in car insurance at the Cooperative Insurance Company, said his firm had a new insurance package covering loss and damage to vehicles as part of its “sand” policy covering damage resulting from cold weather and floods and rain. “This is the first insurance policy in the Kingdom to cover natural threats,” he said. “It was previously only available as part of a full coverage policy.” He said the policy was the result of the November 2009 flood disaster, after which many vehicle-owners were unable to claim compensation as their policies were third party polices which do not cover natural disasters. “The same thing occurred when Riyadh was hit by similar floods earlier this month,” he said. “The company decided to offer a new policy in its ‘sand' document to cover loss and damage to private individually-owned vehicles occurring as a direct result of cold weather or floods and rain.” Al-Shareef said that the policy pays out a maximum SR20,000 from one or more losses over the duration of the policy. Abdul Malik Al-Hamid, another insurance specialist, said that although no official damage estimates had been released, the damage witnessed in his estimation could reach over SR12.5 billion. “That would include repair work, house or commercial outlet renovation, and the value of vehicles swept away by the floodwaters,” he said. Sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette, meanwhile, that vehicles on Palestine Street constituted 50 percent of all flood damaged vehicles in Jeddah. The central city thoroughfare was turned into a raging torrent when the rains hit Wednesday leaving hundreds of vehicles and their occupants stranded.
