A Party to the World

Yesterday morning, I woke at 6:15 to the all-to-common fire alarm. Prepared to sleep through it if necessary, I went to my window to check for smoke or anything that might indicate that this wasn’t one of the dozens of false alarms. What I found was rain.

Rain like cords was falling in Saudi Arabia. The streets were wet, and excited, I ran to get my camera and started taking pictures. I threw some clothes on, and ran around campus to try to document what I believe to be a very rare event here. I called several of my friends to make sure they were awake and witnessing this.

The rain let up about 7:30, and soaked and I tired I headed back to my building to get some sleep when I encountered several other students who also wanted to just feel the rain on their faces. We walked around campus to see it wet, but ended up surveying the damage. Students had ceilings collapse, water running out of light fixtures, flooding in their apartments – the list goes on.

A sunken area of campus had turned into a lake (based on what it’s like when it’s dry, it must be 4 meters deep in some places), and some roads had become impassable rivers. Encountering a couple of students on motorcycles unsure if they should try to cross, I was reminded of Oregon trail. In the end, they forded the river.

Tyler and I moved on, the water now thigh-high in the middle of the road. Cars’ mufflers were bubbling through the water, and one had to worry about the wake of passing cars. The womens’ residence was evacuated, and many families packed their kids in the car and left in search of higher ground. The timing was sweet and sour – it was the last day before break and school got cancelled on account of rain, but most students were leaving the country for the week, and some will return to find unlivable and extensively damaged homes.

Rains like these are extremely rare in the area, and so I understand the lack of preparation. I don’t understand the shoddy craftsmanship of the homes, but that’s a running issue. Tonight’s Thanksgiving dinner will be a reflective one for certain. One exasperated student, waking to water pouring on him, household wiring fried and water running down the stairs like a waterfall felt that this was the last straw. He seemed to be set on the decision to return home at the earliest possible time.

It seems he’s not alone, and the school is expecting a non-negligible portion of the students to not return after winter break, though some are talking about not returning from Eid break at the end of next week. I hope for all our sakes and for the sake of the school, that the administration can refocus, get their act together and get their sometimes incredible mismanagement under control. We all came because we wanted to see KAUST succeed, and we hope it still can.

That said, I would like to offer praise and criticism; the response from emergency services was what I’d expect in a modern country. Water tankers were on the streets, pumping out massive amounts of water, within four hours of the rain. The fire department helped evacuate a number of families, and each student was actually contacted by phone to make sure he had a livable apartment for the time being – those who did not were moved to safe lodgings. My criticism is this – why are not all of our other, very real concerns and problems not pursued with the same tenacity and efficiency. Why did it take a small disaster for KAUST to shine?

I took some more photos as well.