RIYADH: The recent heavy rains and floods in some regions do not signify a major shift in weather patterns in the Kingdom, according to a scientist of climate studies in Riyadh.
“We have just witnessed an unpredictable weather phenomenon in Jeddah and it is not possible to predict what havoc such events would wreak. Thunderclouds breaking into heavy downpours as happened in Jeddah is an annual event in the Kingdom,” Nasser Sirhan, assistant professor of climate studies at the King Faisal College, said while speaking to media.
However, the scientist added that a difference in the Jeddah rain last week was the increase in the volume of rain compared to previous years and that too after a long dry spell, Al-Watan Arabic daily reported on Friday.
“But that rain, in my view, could not have caused a huge tragedy if there was adequate infrastructure to drain the water,” Sirhan said.
The devastations were further deepened by the lack of preparedness of local residents, he added.
He also said that the weather changes and outrages occurred in the Kingdom almost in a cyclic manner, once in 20 years as happened in Riyadh in 1994.
“People are not prepared for such unexpected events as they do not occur annually. The phenomena is not related to other weather phenomenon observed in other parts of the world,” he said.
The scientist said that the Kingdom would get more rains this year than in the past three years. “The rain fall will be 20 percent more than normal in the northern, western and central regions.”
He also predicted that spring rain would be less in the western region compared to previous years.
