Rain In Jeddah

Everyone talks about the rain in Jeddah that happened about three years ago. It nearly drowned the city. Cars were floating down the street! It’s was an event here that was comparable to a big NYC blizzard that can close down the entire city for a day or so.

So it rained on 11/10/2013 for about three hours. It was a light rain that did not require the windshield wipers constantly but just enough moisture to need them run on very intermittent. It was enough to cover all the cars in rain dust and to wet the street enough to throw up a mixture of dirt into your car. The result was complete paralysis of traffic. No one could move.

The cars were all in gridlock. The American Embassy in Jeddah closed down. You would almost think that this was comical, but everyone seemed so seriously stressed out by this light rain. It seems that the last time around there was no system in place to siphon off rainwater. Really! This time no one knows if they actually fixed the system. I’ve seen the youtube video with cars floating down the street so I imagine that has got some folks mighty nervous.

My neighbor’s car drowned and he walked home in chest deep water. Really! The reason for all this mess is that there is no infrastructure to take care of rainwater. The last government officials took the money for the public works and ran. If it rains twice in the last year and a half that I’ve been here, it’s a safe bet you’ll be long gone a long time before they catch up to you.