Saudi capital hit with RARE floods, residents urged to stay indoors

[Sevan Makaracı]

Severe flooding is being reported in Saudi Arabia, especially in the kingdom’s capital of Riyadh, with the government closing schools and urging people to stay indoors amid heavy rain.

Flooding is rare in the country dominated by the Arabian Desert.

Witnesses in Riaydh, which is also the country’s largest city, are reporting flooded streets and shops. Pictures posted on Twitter show cars drowning in rainwater.

Saudi Civil Defense warned citizens to stay indoors for their own safety, Al Arabiya reported.

Weather forecasts are predicting heavy rains to continue to batter Saudi Arabia for the entire weekend. The eastern part of the country looks to be hit the most by the rains. 

The government is setting up a disaster management center in the holy city of Mecca and is planning to close schools and evacuate people in low-lying areas, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News reported.

Rains in the northwest city of Ha’il are expected to flood the Al Adeera valley, according to media reports. 

Meanwhile, witnesses reported that villagers 70 kilometers west of Ha’il were taking shelter on the rooftops of houses, mosques, and even mountaintops as the flooding began.

The desert kingdom has in the past been criticized for its lack of preparedness for such situations, as flooding is rare in that part of the world. 

Source

Pictures

[Kojima]

* Disaster Risk Management in the Arab World is Critical and Cost Eff... [The World Bank; 17 November, 2013]

Disaster Risk Management in the Arab World is Critical and Cost Effective

Jeddah, Nov. 17, 2013 – Representatives of 15 countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region gathered today in Jeddah for two days to discuss findings and recommendations of a recent report on natural disasters in MENA, prepared by the World Bank in partnership with the United Nations

Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and sponsored by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). The report focuses on the need to shift from disaster response to proactive risk management, and underscores the importance of establishing strategic frameworks and integrating disaster risk reduction into sustainable development policies and plans.

The event, hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, convened government representatives of the MENA Region, as well as international experts, and various stakeholders including private sector and the media.

“Our region faces risks from natural disasters that are on the increase both in intensity and frequency such as floods and drought. There is a critical need for a disaster risk management plan for countries in the region to minimize deaths and economic losses. We must shift and adopt prevention measures. We thank the World Bank and GFDRR in supporting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in strengthening its disaster risk management" said Dr. Abdulaziz Bin Omer Al-Jasser, President of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Presentations and discussions at the workshop highlighted the hazards facing the region, the need to integrate disaster risk reduction into sustainable development policies and plans as well as presenting the efforts and achievements in DRM at regional and national levels in MENA. International and regional experiences in addressing hazards disaster risk financing and insurance as a framework for disaster risk management were also presented. 

"The MENA region has been hit by at least 370 natural disasters over the past 25 years with 40 million people affected at a cost of US$19 billion. Moreover, the people who suffer the most are usually those who are poor” said Franck Bousquet, World Bank Sector Manager of Urban, Social and Disaster Risk Management. “Many governments have made significant efforts and we, at the World Bank Group, stand ready to scale up engagement so that they can invest more in prevention. Improving the capacity of MENA countries at both national and local levels to absorb shocks is critical and cost effective.”

Since 1980, the number of natural disasters worldwide has doubled and, in MENA, it tripled. Floods are the most recurring disaster in MENA. The 2008 floods in the governorates of Hadramout and Al-Mahara in Yemen caused US$ 1.6 billion in damages and losses, the equivalent of six percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Earthquakes are the second most prevalent disaster in the region, but equally damaging. Droughts also cause significant economic stress. As an example, the 2008 to 2011 drought in Djibouti caused the economy to contract by 3.9 percent of GDP each year.

Over the past decade, governments in the region have developed a better understanding of the risks posed by natural disasters and the measures needed to prepare for them. Recently, some countries, such as Morocco, with the support of the World Bank, are moving towards an integrated risk management approach, taking into account various types of risks, with the objective of strengthening their overall resilience to external shocks. There are promising signs of proactive efforts to expand the capacities to manage the effects of natural disasters.  

* The Threat of Natural Disasters in the Arab Region: How to Weather ... [The World Bank; 7 November, 2013]

The Threat of Natural Disasters in the Arab Region: How to Weather the Storm

SUBMITTED BY ANDREA ZANON ON NOVEMBER 7, 2013

This blog is based on the forthcoming report Natural Disasters in the Middle East and North Africa: A Regional O.... We invite you to read the report and leave us your comments-your feedback is essential.

Last January, a severe weather storm swept through Egypt, Jordan, Gaza and the West bank, Syria, and Lebanon. The flooded streets and scores of displaced people it left behind showed that the region is still insufficiently prepared to manage natural disasters. Also in January, record breaking snow fall in Amman, Jordan, overwhelmed the city’s drainage system, with the resulting floods trapping residents in their homes. In the Zaatari refugee camp, north of the Jordanian capital, hundreds of tents were destroyed, leaving thousands of Syrian refugees with no shelter. In the past years, storms have disrupted traffic in the Suez Canal and forced Egyptian authorities to close down the port of Alexandria, multiple fatalities have been reported in Lebanon due to severe weather, and sandstorms are increasingly affecting Gulf countries, shutting down airports, schools and cities.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is no stranger to severe weather – floods, earthquakes and multi-annual droughts have been on the rise. While the number of natural disasters around the world has almost doubled since the 1980s, in MENA it has almost tripled. Rapid urbanization, water scarcity, and climate change have all aggravated the impact of natural disasters and created new development challenges for the region.
Floods are the most recurring disaster in MENA, and they take a heavy toll. The 2008 floods in the governorates of Hadramout and Al-Mahara in Yemen caused US $ 1.6 billion in damages and losses, the equivalent of six percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Earthquakes are the second most prevalent disaster in the region, but equally damaging, with Algeria and Iran being the most affected and most at risk. Droughts also cause significant economic stress. The 2008 to 2011 drought in Djibouti caused the economy to contract by 3.9 percent of GDP each year.

Disasters strike cities especially hard, with the informal communities being particularly vulnerable. 62 percent of the total population of MENA lives in cities and this figure is expected to double by 2040. Informal settlements will grow along with cities, leaving more and more people exposed to the full impact of natural disasters.

Most of the region’s largest cities and economies are in coastal areas, where the risks are even greater. Approximately 60 million people, about 17 percent of MENA’s total population, live in cities along the coast. The threat of a rise in sea levels is ever present, and the consequences are severe. In Egypt, a one meter rise in sea level is estimated to put 12 percent of the country’s agricultural land at risk. These challenges are worsened by extreme water shortages. MENA is the most water scarce region in the world, with fresh water resources per capita shrinking from 4,000 cubic meters (m3) per year in the 1950s, to 1,100 m3 per year today. Already limited fresh water resources are expected to be reduced by a further half by 2050. This is alarming compared to the global average of 8,900 m3 per person per year today and about 6,000 m3 estimated for 2050.

Over the past decade, governments in the region have developed a better understanding of the risks posed by natural disasters and the measures needed to prepare for them. There are promising signs of proactive efforts to expand the capacities to manage the effects of natural disasters. It is a promising start but far from the integrated approach needed, including systematic risk assessment, early warning, and emergency funding.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://riyadhconnect.com/video-collapse-of-bridge-in-thumama-east-o...

Video: Collapse of bridge in Thumama, east of Riyadh

on Nov 20, 2013 

UPDATE: The pillar of the bridge gave way at around 6 in the morning. When the incident took place, a car collided with a tanker transporting fuel, injuring the two people in the car and the driver of the tanker.

One of the victims suffered from a broken thigh bone, whereas the fuel tanker driver escaped with only slight injuries. Local news reported that the collapsed bridge was the only way for tankers to deliver fuel from Aramco to Riyadh.

Torrents of rain water and continuous heavy rains that has been plaguing Saudi’s capital city over the past few days has led to many infrastructural damages. The latest is the collapse of the old airport bridge in Thumama in Riyadh.

Images and video footage of the collapsed bridge has been widely shared on social media sites since this morning. A truck that was crossing the bridge got trapped over the collapsing bridge, but it is not clear whether the occupants of the truck were safely rescued. Many people expressed their anger over the falling bridge and called authorities to address corruption in the companies that managed the infrastructure projects in the kingdom, reported local news site Almnatiq.

The recent rains have caused extensive damage to infrastructure in the region including power supply disruption in some neighborhoods and flooding of many major roads and tunnels.

[Andrey Eroshin]

19.11.13. Saudi floods kill four and left 10 missing.

Flash floods sparked by torrential rain in largely desert Saudi Arabia have killed four people and left 10 missing over the past two days, the civil defence authority said Tuesday.

Two of the dead and seven of the missing were in the capital Riyadh, with the rest coming in the northeastern city of Arar, the authority said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

Since Monday, emergency teams have rescued 1,357 people trapped by the floodwaters, it added.

It urged the more than five million residents of the capital to to stay away from rivers and flooded tunnels. Schools and universities have been closed since Sunday.

Saudi Arabia normally experiences such low rainfall that religious leaders often organise special prayers for rain.

But in May last year, around 20 people were killed in flooding sparked by the kingdom's heaviest rainfall in 25 years.

Floods in the western city of Jeddah on the Red Sea coast killed 10 people in 2011 and 123 people in 2009.

Poor drainage and uncontrolled construction were blamed for the high death tolls in Jeddah.

http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/news/saudi-floods-kill-four_19558

[Kojima]

The precipitation at King Khalid International Airport, located 35 kilometres north of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, of November 16, 2013 was 20.07 millimeters.

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/OERK/2013/11/16/Monthly...