Officials sacked over flood havoc in Saudi Arabia
South-west villages were battered by recent flooding amid suspected laxity
Cairo: Saudi authorities have dismissed local officials from their jobs and referred them to prosecution for interrogation about suspected laxity in handling floods that have recently ravaged areas in the south-west of the kingdom, Saudi media said.
Authorities in the Jazan region said that acting governor Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz has decreed relieving from their posts the head and members of two committees in charge of removing encroachments on state lands and surveying valleys in the governorates of Ahad Al Masarihah and Al Darb.
The decree also included referring to public prosecution “those responsible for shifting the courses of valleys,” Jazan authorities added on Twitter.
Last week, Prince Mohammed ordered the formation of a panel to determine causes behind the shifting course of floods into villages in the governorates of Ahad Al Masarihah and Al Darb, and investigate suspected laxity.
A video broadcast by the Saudi television Al Ekhbariya showed flood-hit streets inside Ahad Al Masarihah and Al Darb amid reports of damage to property there. The footage showed powerful floods, resulting from heavy rainfall, flowing into roads.
Several buildings and vehicles in both governorates were damaged as a result. The havoc reportedly forced displacement of some families.