Rain in Riyadh

The thing that i have missed most from 2010 was Rain.......I am living in Saudi Arabia from last 3 years and this is first time that I have seen so much rain in winter. Each year in winter I have been always so sad when all of my friends back in home countary Use to share pictures of snow and rain.... I always feel sad to remember all those days when I enjoyed rain with family and friends.....

This year a miracle occur During the month of November 2013 and there were heavy rain showers lash whole city for many days and after many years I saw water running on roads it disrupted road traffic, in some parts there was so much water that it was crossing over the road divider and was flowing to other end. Streets were flooded with rain water and the cars were stuck on roads.

I am a working lady in a local private institution. I was busy with my class one day during November that all of a sudden whole city was covered with a dark blanket of cloud and afterwards rain started and due to air there was much noise as well. There was so much noise of air that all students requested me to cancel the class as it was dark like night. Everyone including me was so sleepy in class as it was dark with heavy rain outside....and some students told me they are scared of the sound .. they said these are ghosts J ...... In between I told them there is no such thing the sound is just because of moving air but from inside I also got a shock as it was not that normal sound of air ….. it was really a horrible and screaming, scary kind of noise by air ........ and heavy splashes of rain also came afterwards.

The day turned into night all of sudden and the authorities asked all teachers to cancel the classes and informed parents to pick their daughter from campus as soon as possible. As rain forced authorities to suspend classes in most of schools and universities in Riyadh. Within half hour whole campus was vacated and everyone was screaming MOYA MOYA mean water, water .. as water was floating everywhere on roads ……… some students were having fun in rain but others were running  towards their cars to get a shade ……..

Afterwards, while leaving for home when I came out of university gate to take taxi everybody was walking like a jumping kangaroo to save their clothes from water running on roads. I went to a place on 5 minutes drive from the campus but it took more than 20 minutes to get back home as all streets were flooded with water and it was hard to find a safe way to cross the street. Riyadh was similar to Rawalpindi as water was everywhere on roads.

Later in evening i went out with a friend to see the situation and the city was drenched with flooded water. Afterwards laborers were busy trying to clean water from streets of Riyadh. We had 2 days off for the first time because of rain. I got some images from Google to share here. Unfortunately i left my camera at home so i could not get any pictures.

Today on January 11 , 2014 I was busy talking with my family back home so I heard some rain drops falling on the AC. I decided to go down to see the actual situation of rain .. it rained just for half and hour or less and it was not that strong but still there was a lot of water between buildings and the weather turned really cold  due to light rain… and my 3 years old daughter is singing rain rain go away .. rain rain go away ….

This is a nice experience to see rain after many years but I pray that it may remain a blessing for everyone in Riyadh. The weather is very cold but still its nice to feel cold in Riyadh and its surprising how the weather of Saudi Arabia is changing as it was one of warmest countries of the world. This change is not only because of Global warming but for believers there are signs of Allah as well.

Andleeb