DAMMAM/RIYADH/JEDDAH, 27 March 2003 — A blizzard of choking sands and dust swept through several parts of the Kingdom, reducing visibility all day yesterday.
 
The weather will be “absolutely horrid” and sandstorms will strike Central, Western and Eastern regions repeatedly in the next five days, according to the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME).
 
“There will be a fall in temperature today with partly cloudy skies over Eastern, Central and Southern regions of the Kingdom,” said the PME.
 
Surface winds blowing dust at 60-65 kmph from west to north are causing great inconvenience to motorists. “Visibility has been reduced to a few meters because of the sandstorm,” said Arif Khatib, who drives daily to the city center in Riyadh.
 
Khatib said that two days of sandstorms have made life miserable in Riyadh, especially for construction workers and others working in the open. However, there was some respite last night because of rains.
 
A Sudanese limousine driver, Abdul Kareem Ala, said that he lost his way because of poor visibility on the roads. It has become difficult to read the road signboards or the boards on the streets from a distance, Ala said.
 
The PME said that the Central region will experience similar conditions during the next two days. Riyadh and adjoining areas will be hit by sandstorms with temperature dropping further. Partly cloudy sky has been predicted for the Central region from Saturday with
temperatures dropping to a minimum of 18 degrees centigrade.
 
“The weather is causing great hardships for children,” said Shamima Khanam, a teacher in Riyadh.
 
Shamima said some of the schools in the capital were closed after the examinations. But poor attendance was recorded in many other schools because of the sandstorm. “It was a bad day in Riyadh, with dust storms creating a lot of problems for us, including mood disorders,” she said.
 
The Eastern Province experienced turbulent weather as heavy rains in the small hours of Wednesday were followed by a sandstorm which disrupted normal life and affected traffic movement in the air and on land.
 
The Meteorological Environment Protection Agency (MEPA) at King Fahd International Airport confirmed that the sandstorm severely reduced visibility.
 
“This may go on for a while,” a MEPA official told Arab News. He said sudden increases or drops in temperature were normal for this time of year and resulted in the buildup of a depression causing rains and storms.
 
He said most of the regions in the Kingdom were experiencing similar weather but the Northern Province was the worst affected. Saudi Arabia shares its border in the Northern region with Iraq.
 
Flights were delayed between three and six hours at King Fahd International Airport. Air-India’s flight for Delhi was set to take off but returned to the terminal when the pilot reported poor visibility.
 
Saudi Arabian Airlines also reported delays in arrivals and departures of its domestic flights. There were also reports of flights being diverted to nearby airports.
 
The Saudi Railway Organization also advised that due to the sandstorm and resultant poor visibility its trains had to reduce speed, leading to delays in arrival and departure.
 
Saudi Arabian Transport Company (SAPTCO) said it canceled some services and some departures were delayed. “Normal service will resume once visibility improves,” it said.
 
There were several road accidents on the Dammam-Khobar and Jubail highways. The traffic department, however, said that none of the accidents were serious and there were no fatalities.
 
The weather deteriorated on Tuesday evening when the region was hit by thunderstorms and later by rain. Late in the night the downpour hit Dammam and Alkhobar, continuing until the early hours of Wednesday. Rain stopped for a few hours and in the early afternoon Dammam and Alkhobar were hit by a sandstorm. The storm was so fierce that at one point visibility was reduced to almost zero and many motorists were seen taking shelter on the roadside or under flyovers.
 
By evening the storm started easing up but visibility remained poor. Roads and markets remained deserted as people preferred to remain indoors.
 
Temperatures in the Jeddah-Makkah region also dropped considerably last evening, following Tuesday’s sandstorm.
 
The storm was both intense and longest in recent years, according to the local office of MEPA. Despite poor visibility, some motorists were driving on all major roads and the Jeddah-Makkah Expressway.
 
“I could not see a vehicle even 100 meters ahead of me, but I had to drive as I had to report for work,” a senior executive of an automobile dealership said.
 
While pedestrians struggled to walk as strong winds blew sand into their eyes, taxi drivers had a field day. There were reports of cabbies refusing to accept fares or demanding more money. Despite the storm and poor visibility, automobile accidents were minimal as motorists drove slowly.
 
The weather in Jeddah will be better from tomorrow with clear skies and moderate temperatures. The city is likely to be hit by a dust storm again today, as are Makkah and Madinah, the PME said.

Saeed Haider, Ghazanfar Ali Khan & K.S. Ramkumar

© Arab News 2003