A few days ago, the citizens of Tehran experienced being engulfed in a freakishly large and brown, sometimes orange, sandstorm. Over here in Saudi Arabia we (I guess I should clarify that by saying the white people I’m surrounded by) call a sandstorm a
shamal (شمال), which I learned way too late in the game means "north" in Arabic and not sandstorm. I guess that’s because they're winds that come from regions located to the north of Saudi?
Anyways, the storm that struck the capital of Iran was particularly terrifying as it's
reported that 4 people lost their lives, property was damaged, and 50,000 people were left without electricity. Winds were said to have peaked at 70 miles per hour. We had a freak sandstorm here in Dhahran a few weeks ago and I know that I absolutely cannot compare the two, but we had lots of trees fall down in our compound, something that I have never seen happen here. Trees fell down on people’s cars, air conditioning units, houses, and fences and we were left without power overnight, some were even left without running water. I heard that people in the neighbouring city of Al Khobar didn't even know it was that bad as they don't have so many trees there! I can't imagine how much worse it was in Tehran where 8.15 million people live.
Can you imagine being in the city of Tehran and seeing that cloud of sand coming towards you? Gah.
Did you see the photos of Tehran’s June sandstorm? Have you been through a particularly nasty one yourself? Let me know what it was like in the comments section below or send me your photos on my Facebook page or Twitter account.
Terrifying!
ReplyDeleteWhat will all those storms do without electricity?
Thanks for catching that typo Anonymous!
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