Floods in Riyadh

Last week I got caught in floods in Riyadh. I had to stop by the Medical Centre with my driver and as we came out, he frowned and looked up at the sky.

"Rain. Problem."

Coming straight from England, it was barely enough for me to bother with an umbrella. I laughed. "Don't worry. I'm from England. We're used to rain."

"Rain in England - no problem. Rain in Saudi Arabia - big problem."

We got into the mini-van and started back to my residence.

5 mins later the major arterial roads were awash and turned into rivers.

Cars stood abandoned in the middle of the road and drivers tried to avoid the water by mounting the steeply sloping hard shoulder.
Men in white thobes, picked up their hems and waded sandal clad through the floodwater.
One driver left his car and picked his way along a narrow ledge of a wall, clutching the wire fence for balance, while a torrent of flood water 6 inches deep poured along the road below him.
At a major junction where the road had been closed, typical Saudi driver fashion, everyone piled in and created a log jam tapestry of skewed about cars so no one could move. A dapper little man with a moustache in a smart black business suit and white shirt got out of his car and began directing the traffic - dripping with water and soaked to the skin. Not a police officer in sight.

One of the things I love about Saudi Arabia - suddenly being confronted by bizzare and vivid images of total craziness

All the main roads back to my residence were closed. The driver went round in circles trying to find a way through. The journey should have taken half an hour. Two hours later we finally arrived back. I didn't mind. My first exciting little adventure less than a week after arriving back in the Kingdom.

I asked my driver if he would be able to get home all right. He assured me he would.

"Thank you so much for all your driving and getting me home. I'm so sorry it took so long."

"No problem. It's my job."

He vanished back into the rain.