Desert flash floods are common every monsoon season in the U.S. Desert Southwest. But sometimes heavy rain in other desert areas around the world can quickly become deadly and destructive.
On November 25, 2009, 16 years ago today, heavy rain poured down on Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the country’s second largest city.
In just four hours, about 2.76 inches (70 millimeters) was measured at King Abdulaziz International Airport. That’s over a year’s worth of rain — they average only 2.34 inches of rain a year — and the most rain of any calendar day on record, there.
That sudden torrent triggered deadly flash flooding throughout the area. At least 100 were killed in the floods, with some estimates suggesting over 150 perished. In the immediate aftermath, another 350 were missing. Three thousand vehicles were also said to be damaged or swept away.
This city has long been flash flood prone, with 11 normally dry riverbeds known as wadis draining from the hills and mountains east of the city toward the Red Sea coast.
Compounding the impact was that this happened during the annual hajj, a yearly pilgrimage in which an average of over 2 million visitors journey to the city of Mecca, Islam’s holiest city about 40 miles east-southeast of Jeddah.
AP Photo/Hassan Ammar
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
