Saudi authorities announced on Wednesday the closure of schools across several regions following heavy rains that submerged many roads.
This comes as a new wave of heavy rain strikes the desert Gulf region, with the UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority elevating its alert level in anticipation of the weather conditions expected on Thursday and Friday.
Footage from Agence France-Presse in the Qassim area, home to over five million people and one of the regions hit by heavy rainfall on Tuesday, showed vehicles navigating through partially submerged roads.
The National Center for Meteorology issued a “red alert” for Qassim and several other areas including the Eastern Province overlooking the Arabian Gulf, the capital Riyadh, and the western region near the Red Sea in Medina.
The government weather center warned of “heavy rain accompanied by strong winds, zero horizontal visibility, hail, flash floods, and thunderbolts” across these regions.
In response, educational departments in the Eastern Province and Riyadh cancelled in-person classes on Wednesday, switching to remote learning.
The Medina educational department shared images on the X platform of maintenance workers repairing electrical systems, and air conditioning units, and removing accumulated water in schools.
On Wednesday morning, the streets of Riyadh, which has a population of over 8.5 million, were filled with water that did not disrupt traffic, as rain continued to fall in the chilly, cloudy weather.
Flooding and rainstorms are common in Saudi Arabia, particularly during the winter, with larger, more densely populated cities occasionally struggling with rainwater drainage.
Last week, a team of scientists published a study suggesting that global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions is “likely” behind the record rainfall impacting the region.
