Sandstorm disrupts life in Riyadh

HAZARDOUS CONDITION: Traffic moves slowly along a Riyadh street due to a severe sandstorm on Friday. (AN photo by Ahmed Fathi) Mar 20, 2010   RIYADH: A number of incoming flights to Riyadh were diverted to Dammam as a result of a major sandstorm that hit the Central Region and Riyadh on Friday reducing visibility to a few meters.   According to officials at King Khaled International Airport (KKIA), outbound flights left the capital as scheduled. The Meteorological and Environmental Protection Administration (MEPA) said visibility was 50 meters in the morning and 100 meters in the evening. Wind speed was 89 km per hour.   A senior official said Friday afternoon that the weather was expected to improve Saturday. The Janadriya festival started immediately after Friday prayers but turnout was low. It picked up after 4 p.m. when the sandstorm subsided.   Foreign guests returned to their hotels in the capital but came back to the festival where free facemasks were handed out.   The festival was open to schoolchildren and males until 10 p.m. It is open exclusively to women on March 22-23 and families from March 27.   The Sri Lankan Expatriates Society canceled its meeting on its diabetes and cardiac diseases campaign, said the group's president, Andrew Sinnen. Maj. Abdulrahman Al-Muqbel, director of the Riyadh Traffic Department, said: "As of 3 p.m. Friday, there was no reported cases of accident. As soon as the storm came, we sent patrol cars to monitor the traffic flow." The sandstorm started at dawn, said Abdulaziz Arakkal, who works with Arabian Food Supply. Robert Fernandez, a member of the Order of the Knights of Rizal, said: "I had to drive slowly because I could hardly see cars ahead of us while we were on our way to see somebody off at KKIA."   In Al-Rass, Qassim, Saudi teacher Saleh Harequi said that a sandstorm with strong winds also blanketed the region. "A blinding sandstorm blanketed Qassim Thursday night. But visibility had improved by Friday afternoon but it was still windy," he said.   Joaquin de la Pena, a Filipino community leader in Buraidah, said the sandstorm was raging when he left Riyadh early Friday afternoon. "When I was in Majma, the sandstorm had not abated but the weather was better when I reached Buraidah by 5:15 p.m.," he added.