It does rain in Riyadh

Contrary to the norm, it has been raining quite a bit the past month. Everyone tells us that this is highly unusual, so we should enjoy it. It seems like it has at least sprinkled almost every other day. Normally when it sprinkles, the entire sidewalk never gets wet at the same time, because the raindrops evaporate so quickly off the warm pavement. However, it has actually poured a couple of times since we've been here, and last Monday Riyadh received so much rain in such a short time that the roads flooded and one of the princes declared a national emergency.

The rain started at the end of the school day on Monday, at which point the students started panicking and insisting that they be allowed to head home immediately. Though the weather situation turned out to be more serious than we foreign teachers thought, you have to understand why we always assume the students are exaggerating. It seems that almost every day they have some excuse why they must go home immediately. ;) The taxi ride home from work took extra long, as the roads were filled to the brim with people trying to make it back to their homes. The northern part of the city was hit with most of the rainfall, and traffic there was backed up for a couple of hours in some places.

Soon, the day's photogenic moments, including these, started circulating through e-mail:

The underpasses were especially dangerous. Since drivers hardly ever experience rain like this, many cars got stranded trying to plow through the underpasses! According to the English newspaper Arab News, the flooding caused two deaths and 275 car accidents, and 155 people were rescued by authorities.

The problem is that Riyadh, not known for rainfall, has no drainage systems to speak of. After this incident, the city has decided to pump 11 billion riyals into a new drainage project over the next two years.

The next day, all the schools were closed - so even though we still had to report to work, it was a very laid-back day with no students around.

Aside from all the trouble it caused, the rain did a beautiful job of cleansing the city of dust. The windows on all the buildings shone brightly and the air felt clean and clear.