It poured down rain recently in Houston and the effect it caused reminded me exactly of what it is like when you get that infrequent downpour in Saudi Arabia. Just like Saudi Arabia, the streets in Houston have inefficient drainage systems. As a result, the roads will quickly flood. Because it rains so few times in Saudi Arabia it is easy to forget or not necessarily the roads do not have water drains. Before you know it, the rain puddles up on the road and then particularly in tunnels and inclined areas a flash flood can occur quickly. A driver may be on a roadway in Saudi in the rain with the rain coming down hard. He may have little to know difficulty initially in navigating the straight roadway but in a sudden dip or tunnel, the rain will have likely collected causing many vehicles to hydraplane or go out of control. Not surprisingly during those rare rainstorms, traffic will become a clogged mess and at some places it will halt to a virtual standstill. I guess drivers in Saudi Arabia have not had enough experience or exposure to driving in rainstorms.
It is also worth noting that when it is lightly sprinkling in Saudi Arabia some of the roads will then have the same effect as if oil had been spilled on the road. The road in turn becomes very slick and again causing a number of accidents.
However, rain is always welcomed in Saudi Arabia but when it does rain, just remember to exercise additional caution while on the roadways.
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if there is no slope towards sea, the rain water would not flow down, so there would be water logging.
this problem persists at many part of the world. local authorities should do something to clear water logging
Its not just desert dry places. I’ve spent almost 2 years in Memphis, TN and the storm drainage system is poor.
tvsrinivas, it’s not that difficult; the Netherlands are actually below sealevel, but our roads are well-drained and we don’t have these problems.
But then it rains most of the time here…
The problem in countries with little rain is that it is not worthwhile investing in the type of extensive and expensive drainage systems , like in Holland. The drainage infrastructure in rainy countries is sophisticated and by no means an afterthought, while in dry countries there are many ad-hoc solutions or you simply live with the issues described above the few times it rains ( and write a post in your blog..)
In other countries, like the US, the funding of federal or state governments is minimal due to low taxes, resulting in poor investment in public facilities like drainage (Memphis), Electricity (California) or drinking water (many cities have summer restrictions on water useage)
So indeed it is not difficult, just maybe not costeffective in dry countries.
Saudi is not tht unique in the Middle East when it comes to flooding issues.
The UAE had several floods and it was very bad as well as sewage leakage after enourmous rainfall. The traffic accidents also increased as well as I assume some do not know how to handle a car when hydroplanning (sp).
Perhaps the next project in Gulf states is to create an up to date drainage system!
When I lived in New Mexico, the one thing you had to watch out for were the natural arroyos (fast moving rivers that form after rainfall). Even if they looked small, if you tried to cross them you could easily get swept away, even in your car. A friend of mine had a child who was almost killed by one.
Bahrain practically returns to the sea during heavy rains…streets fill up so that cars are half floating when they crawl through them. Water gets into houses and alot of erosion occurs.
Where I live in Hidd its particularly bad…for the 13 years Ive been here there have been promises of sewage work to be done…but none ever is. Considering the same roads get dug up and relaid every 6 months it seems…why not work on the sewage at the same time?
In Montreal, in July 1987 after a heat wave, thunderstorms dropped 100mm of rain in 1 hour, and the Decarie Expressway (subterranean, uncovered) turned into a canal. The water rose 3.6 metres in 30 minutes, meaning cars were floating and abandoned. One 80-year-old man drowned in his submerged car.
As Peter said about drainage systems, the same is true of snow removal (or not) and problems with flooding from spring runoffs. Even small places like Deep River have excellent snow removal (same am) because of heavy snow all winter, every winter, whereas a major snowfall can temporarily cripple a city like Toronto where they are rare enough that the budget and equipment available are inadequate when it does happen. Other places flood in the spring after an unusually snowy winter.
Since we have been in Saudi there have been a few occasions when rain closed the schools in Makkah due to the heavy flooding there!
@Chiara, lived in Mtl in 1987, seen the mess at Decarie and elsewhere. So true.
Peter–it must have been quite an experience! We just missed each other–I “emigrated” from Montreal in June 1987 (though I’ve “immigrated” and “emigrated” a couple of times since).