Streetlights came on early and traffic clogged main highways. Visibility was drastically reduced and a sharp wind, laden with sand, whipped down streets, uprooted trees and damaged some buildings.
Heavy rains followed thunder and lightning, inundating Eastern Province cities. Jubail was particularly hard hit by the downpour and high winds.
A spokesman for the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment in Dammam said the skies would clear in four hours.
“The gathering storm has nothing to do with what happened recently in Riyadh. This is a result of moisture and heat in our region,” said PME duty forecaster Muhammad Adnan.
The buildup was first seen in Jubail. “That is where we noticed the formation of dark clouds,” Adnan said. “Gusty winds then carried them to Al-Ahsa, Dammam, Dhahran and Alkhobar in a matter of minutes.”
All Eastern Province cities were in the storm’s grip. “We will see thunder, lightning, clouds and rains into the night,” he said.
At King Fahd International Airport, an official said the storm had not affected air traffic. “Yes, there are heavy winds blowing, but as far as we are concerned, everything is normal,” said the airport duty manager.
Those commuting between Alkhobar and Dammam were the worst hit. “It was very difficult to navigate our way on the Dammam-Alkhobar Highway,” said office worker Shaikh Dawood. “At one point, I felt the winds would send my car up into the air. It was blowing so fiercely. It was especially scary because the heavy winds were being followed at regular intervals by flashes of lightning and the crack of thunder.”
Interestingly, the sea was calm.
“I was on the Corniche at one of the cafés on the beach in Dammam. There was not much activity in the sea; at the other end I could see fishermen still casting their nets far and wide for their . However, the enveloping darkness was eerie and unsettling,” said journalist Abdul Jawwad.
Schoolchildren in Dammam and Alkhobar were unaffected. “The storm began only after 2:30 p.m. — long after children were home from schools,” said Uzma Nasreen, a mother of three.
This year the Eastern Province has enjoyed cooler-than-average weather and more rain than in many years.
