JEDDAH: Students of the newly built King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) wrote in their blogs about floodwaters swamping the campus.
Blogger Richard Denny, (richarddenny.tumblr.com), reported that Nadhmi Al-Nasr, interim executive vice president of KAUST Administration and Finance, had sent out a note on the day of the rains warning everyone to stay home.
“Please note that due to the severe weather and flooding that we’re currently experiencing here at KAUST, there will be no classes and all our schools will be closed in conjunction with the offices. We’d request that you stay at home today,” Al-Naser informed the students and faculty.
Sobersaudi.com, a blog run by “Eric,” an engineering student currently enrolled at the university, described being surprised by the extent of the damage from an hours-long rainfall.
“This morning, after a rather romantic thunderstorm, all hell broke loose; along with a handful of houses,” he wrote.
Eric referred in his post to the problems many of the homes in KAUST have had during the initial move-in period with leaky or collapsed ceilings and black mold as a result of poor plumbing, insulation and general design. Last week’s flash flooding provided an opportunity for sobersaudi.com to highlight the campus’s ability to handle torrential rain.
“Not that this doubt should’ve crossed your mind either, but surely the roofs would be properly insulated to keep the water out, right? Wrong,” he wrote.
The bloggers of KAUST have provided details that would have otherwise gone essentially unreported. Phone calls to the public relations office were unanswered on Monday due to the Eid holiday.
Details of the flooding on the KAUST campus include two feet of water on the roads and numerous leaks in newly built flats. According to sobersaudi.com women were “evacuated” from their housing and sent to Jeddah through this week. Ten other students were reportedly relocated because the flooding had made their flats “uninhabitable.”
Nathan Collier, owner of the saudiaggie.blogspot.com, heard the sound of water dripping inside his dorm at KAUST. When he stepped outside of his bed, he soaked in the water on the floor. He said that after 10 minutes of sweeping water out of his bedroom and bailing it off his balcony, he was praying for the rain to stop.
“Heavy rain is something like a natural disaster because the infrastructure here isn’t designed to handle water. Homes flooded, streets flooded, and the mobile phone network was knocked out for a while,” wrote Collier.
As Nathan was walking around taking pictures at KAUST, he waved to other neighbors who were also cleaning water of their houses.
“I woke up early this morning to noise on the roof and went out to observe it pouring! ... and now my house is flooding! So they shut down school for the day, the entire campus. We’re all to stay in our houses,” wrote Collier.
Meanwhile, Thuwwal village that neighbors KAUST fared worse.
