JEDDAH, 11 November 2003 — Torrential rains and strong winds lashed the city yesterday, bringing chaos to roads and byways and making many of them virtually impassable.
Hundreds of cars were stranded as waters rose rapidly and desperate commuters tried to reach drier roads. Hoardings and light temporary structures were flattened by gusting winds, and trees were uprooted.
Many of the main thoroughfares were brought to a standstill, causing gridlock that the police, often with uniform trousers rolled up and wading into the road junctions, attempted to release.
Madinah Road, Prince Sultan Street and Tahlia Street were particularly badly affected. Journeys that normally take a few minutes were extended in many cases to over two hours.
In some areas, the rainwater ran into the main sewerage pipes causing them to overflow, allowing sewage to pour out into the roads and mix with the floodwater. Foundations of buildings in progress filled and brought work to a standstill for fear of collapsing trench walls.
Small cars driven at speed into flooded sections or road caused many of the more severe holdups. Stalling, they added an extra hazard to already atrocious conditions.
In the slowly rolling community that springs up in a traffic jam in the floods, the attitude of the drivers was generally positive.
Stuck in the water, drivers waved and chatted and temporary friendships grew. Others released their frustration at missing appointments by sounding horns, raising little more than tolerant grins from other drivers.
Fawaz Saeed, a local businessman, was sanguine about the delays. “The rain is a blessing,” he said from his large SUV. “It slows us down, one hour — maybe two — but everyone will understand that we have no control over it.”
Although only two hours long, the downpour stretched the rudimentary water runoff system past its limits, despite a recent claim by a local official that “Jeddah’s flooded streets are a thing of the past.”
The effects of the floods, a regular event in Jeddah in the rainy season, had a knock-on effect on homebound commuter traffic streaming into Madinah Road. Police blocked entrances to Jeddah’s main artery in an attempt to reduce traffic flow and, unsuccessfully, lessen the traffic load. Madinah Road was blocked completely for several kilometers north of Tahlia Street at 5.30 p.m. It didn’t become clear until after Maghreb prayer was called, delaying already hungry and frustrated commuters on their homeward journey.
Children returning from school enjoyed the rain but their drivers had difficulty in negotiating some of the waterlogged roads. “I took many detours to drive home my children from school near Kababish, and finally reached without my car getting stuck anywhere,” Nadeem Gohar, a middle-aged Pakistani, said.
Downtown, most of the low-lying areas had pools of water, with young boys lending a helping hand to push some of the stranded vehicles. Boys were also seen enjoying a swim in the makeshift pools in south Jeddah.
People at the Corniche saw the spectacle of thunder and lightning and rushed back home expecting heavy rain on Sunday night.
Most of the open godowns reported losses running into several thousand riyals due to rain.
Taxi drivers had a field day, with some unscrupulous drivers overcharging passengers. “I paid SR20 for a distance that usually costs half that,” a Madinah Road office executive residing in Al-Rawdah district said.
However, the rain was not unusual during this part of the season, according to the Meteorological Environment Protection Agency (MEPA). “In fact, it was overdue. But what is unusual is the spectacular thunder and lightning that came with the rain,” a MEPA official said.
