The morning of Day Three of rain dawned with the children so excited about it that they insisted on having their breakfast at the little art tables set up by the sliding glass door. Optimum rain viewing that way, of course.
On the downside, our house is under major construction at the moment. I have not caught the blog up to this point yet, but for the past five weeks, we have had large metal scaffolding all around our house as they rip off the old siding and put up new siding. That project is an upcoming post unto itself, but the upshot here is that WE CURRENTLY HAVE NO SIDING ON OUR HOUSE. Let's see a showing of hands of how many people think it's a good idea to have the siding torn off your house during a rain event. <cue crickets chirping> Huh. Oh well, it's not our house anyway. (Isn't renting fabulous!) As long as our stuff does not get wet, whatever.
Saudi Arabia is not prepared for rain. It's rather like snow in Alabama. When it rains here, the entire country gets shut down. Mostly this is because there is no planned drainage and no storm sewer, so all that water collects everywhere, especially in the roadways. Traffic is stopped, roads are closed, and sometimes when people drive through bad spots, they get washed away and die like in a flash flood. Several people were killed a few days ago in Riyadh when this happened. When it rains here, everyone is advised to stay home and off the roads. All the schools have been closed for three days except the one here on camp. Even the British Grammar School just around the corner from us has been closed since Sunday because of "threat of rain."
And I love this. Bwa ha hahahahaha! Look at what happened to the airport! This is the airport we use to come and go from Saudi. And keep in mind that this is the bottom floor of the airport, the baggage claim area, so all that water had to come in at the roof and down through all the floors above. Click on the movie, it's worth it. It's a great demonstration of the high quality building standards here in Saudi. Always striving for excellence, right?
Video and pictures: Raining inside Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport
Saudi Arabia’s eastern city of Dammam was left paralyzed following heavy rains since Monday evening, and the King Fahd International Airport in Dammam was transformed into a lake after water started pouring in from parts of the ceiling in the international travel lounge, reported local media.
A number of workers were seen trying to
work to stop the water from gushing out all over, while others attempted
to dry off the floors in the international terminal. The rainfall has
also caused a partial interruption of power supply within the airport,
specifically in the car rental floor and baggage counters at the
international flight departure terminal. Sources added that a number of
offices in the airport were damaged during to water logging.
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