Many schools in Jeddah suspended classes by mid-day on Wednesday as the sky turned dark. There was a sudden traffic chaos on the roads as panicky parents rushed to schools to pick up their children. "I received an SMS from my son's school that the classes are being suspended because of the weather condition," said Athar Iqbal, who had rush from his office to the school to fetch his son. The Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) had forecast moderate to heavy thundershowers accompanied by strong winds and low visibility on Tuesday and Wednesday in Al-Jouf, Northern Border, Hail, Madinah, Makkah provinces, and the coastal cities of Yanbu, Rabigh, Jeddah and Al-Leeth. However, the skies were clear in Jeddah on Tuesday. But Wednesday witnessed a misty weather, lightning, thunder and drizzle in some parts of the city. There were northwesterly to northerly winds in the northern and central parts of the Red Sea and southerly to southeasterly in the southern parts of the Red Sea with speeds ranging between 20 and 40 km per hour. PME has advised citizens and expatriates including seafarers, fishermen and highway users to exercise caution during such inclement weather conditions. Rain forecasts always create panic among city dwellers as they have experienced floods, which in Jeddah resulted in many deaths and damages in 2009 and 2011. Jeddah municipality spokesman Mohammed Al-Baqami has admitted that studies conducted on the drainage system for the city's residential areas are still on paper. The drainage network project for the city's main roads is only 30 percent complete.
