Sand swamps RiyadhBy Shahid Ali Khan
RIYADH – A sand storm hit Riyadh suddenly like a tidal wave around noon Tuesday, disrupting air and road traffic, sending residents rushing indoors, forcing schools and businesses to shut, and provoking an outbreak of respiratory problems across the capital city
“I’ve never seen such weather in my 32 years’ stay in Saudi Arabia,” said Jayceelan Santhanam, an airline official.
“It’s surely the worst sandstorm to hit Riyadh.”
Visibility plunged to zero as the huge wave of dust ploughed through the city at high noon. The impact shut out the bright blue sky and turned everything into an eerie orange-brown.
Riyadh was paralyzed for hours. The traffic department reported 30 road accidents across the city by around 4 P.M. There were no serious injuries though.
Incoming planes caught above the blinding dust storm were diverted to Dammam or Jeddah. On the ground, at King Khalid International Airport (KKIA), none of the planes took off until late in the day.
The dust was so thick that people were seen wearing face-masks outdoors.
“We have never had so many patients with breathing problems like this,” said Dr Rajashekhar Reddy of Shifa Al-Jazirah Polyclinic in downtown Batha, which received 300-350 patients within five hours of the storm.
The polyclinic was ready for the rush though. “We had 10 to 20 extra nebulizers ready when the storm hit,” he said. Sandstorm dust is a prolific source of potential triggers of allergic and nonallergic respiratory ailments.
“It’s just incredible,” said Abdullah Al-Sha’alan, pointing to the thick haze just meters away from his finger. The air was gritty.
Al-Sha’alan said his teenage son was prone to bouts of asthma in such weather. He was worried. “The dust was never so dense like this.”
A sandstorm had hit Riyadh earlier this year “but at that time the dust particulates did not reach the ground like today,” he said.
At the Janadriyah Culture and Heritage Festival, 43 kilometers outside Riyadh, outdoor events were called off.
Elsewhere cross the capital, government schools quickly sent the children home. Many private schools also did the same.
Champions League match put off
Everyone was caught unawares.
An Asian Champions League between Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal and Saba Battery of Iran had to be postponed due to the severe sandstorm.
Spectators were already in the stadium around 8.30 P.M. when it was announced that the Group A game would instead be played on Wednesday.
The storm warning from the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) appeared on Saudi Press Agency at 1.20 P.M. The statement warned of “low visibility due to the dust storm, especially in the Central and Eastern regions, accompanied by a decrease in temperature during the night.” However, residents of Dammam reported no dust storm ny nightfall.
The PME statement said surface winds were northwesterly to northeasterly to the north, west and central parts of the Kingdom, and southwesterly in the rest of the Kingdom. It urged people to take “precautionary measures”, without elaborating.
Mohammed Bin Saad Al-Tasan at Riyadh airport said flight could not take off because of near zero visibility.
He said three incoming flights from Egypt were diverted to King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
According to one airport staff of a foreign airliner, an Ettihad Air flight was the first to land at KKIA after visibility improved to 700 meters by late afternoon
An incoming Gulf Air flight from Bahrain was asked to go back, another airline official said.
Kuwait oil exports halted
Neighboring Kuwait was also hit by the blinding dust storm, which halted oil exports, forced the closure of three ports, and disrupted air traffic, officials said. Winds blowing at a speed of up to 60 kilometres (38 miles) an hour reduced visibility to less than 300 metres (yards) at Kuwait airport and less than 150 meters at ports.
“We have halted oil exports until weather conditions improve,” Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) spokesman Mohammad al-Ajmi told AFP, although operations at Kuwait’s three oil refineries were not affected.
Issam Al-Zamel, head of operations at the civil aviation authority, said incoming planes were facing difficulty landing. A flight for Kuwait’s Al-Jazeera private airlines from Dubai was diverted to Bahrain, he said. Scheduled flights out of Kuwait were, however, still taking off by early afternoon.
The meteorological department there forecast that the dust storm would continue until Wednesday.
Dust storms are rare in winter but common in summer when the temperature hits 50°C (122 F). – SG, with AFP
========
In the eye of a sandstormArab News
NATURE’S FURY: A dust cloud envelops Riyadh on Tuesday. (AN photo by Khaled Al-Khamees)
RIYADH: A severe sandstorm lashed Riyadh yesterday, spreading an orange-color blanket of dust that led to over 70 road accidents, traffic snarls and cancellation of scheduled luncheon parties.
Airport Director Saad Al-Tasan said that all air traffic at King Khalid International Airport was halted for over three hours because of the storm, and later the airport was only allowing departures.
The airport signal tower diverted all incoming flights to the King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah. Airport operations were completely shut between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Later the Dammam airport was closed to all traffic as the storm spread eastward to the Arabian Gulf.
Riyadh Traffic Department spokesman Maj. Ali Al-Alwan said more than 70 accidents were reported in the capital during the first three hours due to near-zero visibility. Also, people could not go to luncheon parties and outdoor gatherings. Banquet Sales Manager at Riyadh InterContinental Hotel Abdul Aziz told Arab News that hosts called off outdoor parties and few invitees turned up for the luncheon.
Government schools were closed early yesterday due to the timely warning issued by the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment Protection (PME) through text messages.
The messages in Arabic warned of low visibility due to the widespread dust during the day, especially in the central and eastern parts of the country accompanied by a decrease in temperature at night.
The storm was attributed to changing weather conditions.
A PME spokesman told Arab News that the storm originated in the central Qassim province.
In neighboring Kuwait, oil exports were restarted after a brief halt due to the storm and poor weather. Sources in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said their Gulf export operations were not affected.
Earlier, spokesman of oil refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Co said the OPEC oil producer had halted oil exports of over two million barrels per day after the storm hit the emirate.
Kuwait exports about 2.1 million barrels per day of combined crude and oil products. Most exports go to Asia.
At Saudi Arabia’s main crude export terminal in Ras Tanura weather was fine and the export flow was uninterrupted, a shipping source said.
“Loading and shipping are going smoothly,” he said.
-------
some other pictures of the sandstorm :
By mid-afternoon, as the storm cleared, Youtube has notched up 64 videos of the extraordinary event that has left a thick layer of orange dust on every surface of the city. (Ahmad Saleh)
Low-rise buildings vanished as the storm broke over them, and even skyscrapers such as the Kingdom Tower disappeared to observers on the ground. (Ahmad Saleh)
Residents watching the storm from within tall buildings saw a wall of dust over 100 metres high approach the city limits like a tidal wave. (Ahmad Saleh)
( this was taken from king saud univ , i was there when it happened )
Saudi people walk through a sand and dust storm in Riyadh. A blinding dust and sand storm hit the Gulf region with warnings of low visability coming from the Saudi meteorological authorities and Kuwait closing all three of their ports halting oil exports. (Getty Images)
The Saudi Arabian capital was forced to close its airport as a thick layer of orange dust choked the city. (Ahmad Saleh)
Day turned to night in an instant in Riyadh on Tuesday as one of the worst sandstorms in a decade engulfed the city. (Getty Images)
Tema: Peščana oluja u Rijadu, 10. mart 2009. (Pročitano 3059 puta)