Before the rains: Kuwait Fire Force says check your basement pump and drain pit
A barrier at a garage ramp that slopes underground, equipment sized to the house, and 112 if water climbs indoors.
Kuwait’s General Fire Force wants homeowners to get their houses ready before the first proper downpour of the season, not after it. Brigadier Mohammed Al-Ghareeb, who heads the force’s public relations and media department, set out what to check in an interview published by Al-Rai on the evening of 26 October 2026.
Three checks at home
- The basement pump: make sure it has been serviced and actually runs.
- The drain pit: look inside and clear anything blocking it.
- Capacity: the pump has to match the size of the basement and the house. A small unit will not keep up with a large basement.
If your car park slopes down into a basement, he recommends fitting a barrier at the entrance to stop rainwater running in.
If water rises inside
Warn everyone in the house, make sure nobody stays on the ground floor or in the basement, and call 112 if anyone is in danger.
What the fire service expects this winter
The calls it is preparing for are cars and people trapped in floodwater, electrical fires from short circuits, and people stuck in lifts when the power cuts out. Cheap or improvised wiring is the warning that runs through all of it, at home and at camp.
Fire stations carry Unimog trucks that can work in water up to 1.2 metres deep, with a small rescue boat and front and rear winches for pulling out stranded vehicles. A large flood pump moves more than 70,000 litres a minute and can push water half a kilometre away.
For desert camps
Keep at least five metres between tents, put the kitchen at least ten metres from the rest of the camp and build it from sheet metal, and keep lights and heaters away from the tent’s roof and walls. Charcoal only comes inside with doors and windows open, and never while anyone sleeps. Our guide to heaters and braziers in the tent covers the rest.
Photo: a pump pit with two submersible pumps, an illustrative picture not taken in Kuwait. By SuSanA Secretariat, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons.
Source: Kuwait General Fire Force, Brigadier Mohammed Al-Ghareeb speaking to Al-Rai, 26 October 2026.
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