FATIMA MUHAMMAD
and SHAHD ALHAMDAN
SAUDI GAZETTE
JEDDAH — Flights were disrupted, schools had to suspend classes midway, hospitals were put on alert as heavy sandstorm engulfed many parts of the Kingdom on Sunday.
King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah suspended flights for about an hour in the morning, delaying 28 local and international flights. It also transferred five flights to other airports as sandstorm reduced visibility to 200 meters. “For passengers safety different departments at the airport were put on alert. As soon as visibility got better the flights resumed,” a source at the airport told Saudi Gazette.
An advance warning was issued on social media as well as through text messages from the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) that there will be a wave of dust with wind packing a speed of 55 kilometers an hour.
The directorates of health affairs in Makkah and Jeddah raised the state of alert in hospitals and health centers.
In Makkah, the directorate declared a state of emergency, said Spokesman of Makkah Health Affairs Abdulwahab Sadaqah Shalabi. Similar measures were taken in Jeddah hospitals and health centers.
Sandstorm also affected Tabuk, Madinah, Makkah, Al-Jouf, Northern region, Hail, Qasim, Riyadh and the Eastern Province.
Many regions also experienced rain.
The General Directorate of Civil Defense in Riyadh called for the need to take caution.
Spokesman of the Directorate Major Mohammad Al-Hammadi said, “An alert was received from the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment about the weather forecast affecting Riyadh region with active winds and dust during which horizontal visibility will be reduced to less than 1 kilometer.”
Al-Hammadi called on citizens and residents to follow safety instructions and take into account the low level of visibility in such weather conditions.
Many parents were angry at the Education Ministry for not suspending classes despite early warning from Civil Defense about heavy sandstorm.
Many parents received messages and phone calls from schools asking them to pick up their children. As a result, streets were jammed with vehicles and people had to be away from work for several hours.
Shahd Ziyad, a Saudi woman in her mid 20s, said, “Me and my sister went to university and school. I am angry because the university and the school did not send any message about suspending classes, even though people had asked the minister of education and president of the University Student Affairs about the possibility of suspending classes on Sunday. But the president of the University Student Affairs said that the school day will be the same and that no classes will be suspended.”
Ziyad said that she witnessed more than 10 accidents on her way to pick up her sister from school. She said that when she arrived at her sister’s school, the gates were locked. Students were not allowed to go out of the school until the guardians of many students had a fight with the school administration.
Ahmed, a Saudi father in his late 30s, echoed similar feelings. “I told my son not to go to the university on Sunday yet he insist to go since he has an exam. He went to the university and found that the teacher was absent. My wife also had to leave her work and go to pick up my daughters from school.”
Sarah Khaleel, a Saudi mother in her 30s, said that one of her children’s schools sent a text message about the suspension of classes on Sunday. But the schools of her other children did not close.
However, Waad Saleh, a Saudi mother in her 20s, had a different viewpoint. As a working mother she prefers to keep her child in the safety of school.
“I dropped my child to the nursery. For me it is better if classes are not suspended since I do not have any place to put my child in safely except the nursery since I have work.”
