I just got back home after spending around an hour walking in Salmiya taking pictures of the dust storm. It was a very uncomfortable experience since I didn’t have a mask or goggles but I think I got some pretty good pictures. I am going to go through them now and try to post the best ones up tonight but I have a few I posted on twitter which I took with my iPhone like the one above of a guy wearing a plastic bag on his head. You can check out my twitter photos [Here]
Back in March 2003 I posted pictures of what until today I thought was the worst dust storm that hit Kuwait but looking at those pictures right now I realized today’s dust storm is the strongest I’ve ever seen in Kuwait. You can check out my old post from 2003 with the pictures [Here]
Update: Below are a few pictures I like from the ones I shot tonight.
50 replies on “The Dust Storm 2011”
Isnt your camera ruined now? Why would you take it out in those conditions.
dust doesn’t ruin a camera… it’s just dust. Just don’t change lenses in this weather. I took my GF1 out first and then my D90, cleaned them both now and they’re back to normal π
As long as the dust doesn’t get inside the camera’s parts, it’s fine.
How can you prevent this fine dusty from getting inside camera parts? I was out with my phone and I now have dust behind the screen. So damn annoying.
DSLRs are just built better then phones or any other electronics. The parts fit in perfectly and are meant to keep particles out, especially dust, unless you remove the lens.
worst I’ve seen … the Avenues was a sight to behold .. ppl were just sitting around EVERYWHERE even the floor just looking at each other … surprisingly I wasn’t that affected at PF Chang’s LOL
https://deqor8.blogspot.com/2011/03/wicked-weather-kuwait-sand-storm-2011.html
Does anyone have more pictures from the Avenues, I would like to see what it looked like inside. I heard it was baaaddd…
Amar .. sorry I don’t have anymore photos of the Avenues .. i try to refrain from taking pics of people and believe me there were ppl everywhere
What is the met dept doing? How come we didn’t recieve any warnings about this?
Thats cause it was a sudden surprise, all weather forecasts had said clear, no one predicted this
I’m sorry but when the storm hit Kuwait they knew about it !!!!! They saw it coming outside kuwait city yet they didn’t warn us !!!! I’m so pissed of cause our life was on risk today …. They could have avoid all this accidents and missing children !!!!! Whats the use of alarms if they are not going to use it at wars or storms?????
Setting off air raid alarms for a duststorm?
When was the meteorological department ever right with a weather Forecast in Kuwait ?
Anyways what was more appalling was the fact that there were no cops or emergency staffs to support or help those stuck on the highways.
There were a lot of panicked and shock stricken women and children. I’ve heard from some people that traffic in certain areas were moving in the opposite direction after seeing the storm coming their way.
The traffic and Met department are equally bad when will it ever take prompt actions ?
did you get my email mark? shot a video of the sandstorm coming and some pics also.
i loved it,and enjoyed it
Loved it, enjoyed it ????
Weird !
It did look awesome from inside home. But I really pity all the people who got stuck on the roads.
A friend narrated his petrified story on how they all thought if something real bad was going to happen to them.
lol!
The sand storm was the worst we can have here in Kuwait…….me and my wife had to mop the whole house floor to be clean…….hope there was no accidents in the roads….ξ₯
Nice pics Mark! I remember a few dust storms in Kuwait but nothing like that I think! Keep posting them!
Kuwait Airport website weather update…..LOL….
Fair with light to moderate south easterly wind, with speed of 06 – 26 km/h….
I love the picture with the ice cream man! so cute!
That pic was really funny. It looked as if he was expecting to get customers in such a storm.
One of my friends took some pictures from her apartment on the 19th floor and you can see the wall of dust closing in.
https://www.bloggermathai.com/blog/kuwait/kuwaits-mega-dust-storm-from-different-perspectives/
Mathai, can you provide us with high res pictures of those shots? Amazing stuff.
@ Phoenix;
https://picasaweb.google.com/murali.surya/Khamsin?feat=directlink
i hope that no one is hurt. as there were news coming in of some accidents in farwaniya. god bless all .god bless kuwait.
Its 11.00 p.m and I’m dusting my house. Life sucks :o)
it was super painful to see your D90 in that condition.. almost got a heart attack lol
I was riding with my group (Kuwait Riders)
we were heading to Jahraa π
and we mentioned that storm we kept escaping riding back and the view was really scary in the mirrors, just like a horror movie
would’ve been awesome if u woulda took a pic of ur rearview mirror during that time and showed it to us.
Dude I guess the only thing on everyones mind that time would be to get the hell out of that storms way.
People were shit scared it was something like 2012. So taking snaps on the highway would have been the last thing on Ramez’s mind i guess.
Check our my video and picture set of the Sandstorm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKcJoK7BIb0
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50255600@N07/sets/72157626223404383/
THANK GOD!!! no one mentioned 2012! Its nice to read an ADULT conversation here.
Oops, I just mentioned it. But it really did feel like it when i heard people narrating the story after getting caught in the storm.
There were a lot of shocked women and children. From home it didn’t feel bad at all.
i heard a rumor and would really love some answers.. is there going to to be an earthquake that hits Iran and distroy Kuwait? I heard it’s going to hit Iran in the center and it will cause a title wave like the tsunami to come our way, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and the tinny bit of Saudi thats next to us..
I just want some answers and I’m not sure who to ask..
it’s Freaky!
Thanks bunchez
Yes, you’re right. It will happen around next month sometime. I’m selling survivorware at exorbitant prices. Wanna buy?
If that’s the case. I rather go to my own country. Don’t like the idea of dying in Kuwait. lol.
Because it is 2011
I’m not worried about the earthquake as much as I’m worried that Kuwait will not hit the alarm and will screw us hehehe they didn’t use the alarm at gulf war neither when there was sandstorm π so do you think they will warn us when tsunami hits gulf??? Or we should urge CNN or YouTube to send us notifications !!!!
@Shako – i heard about that too – earthquake to hit iran and other middle eastern countries. a friend posted a link on my facebook last night. not sure if i should believe it or not. here it is –
https://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/03/25/143001.html
Nuclear fear mongering. They didn’t even name the researcher behind the claim.
This link isn’t opening now.
I love Kuwait and I love the weather and I love its people, everything is good here
Let me make a wild guess. You were safe at home yesterday evening when the storm hit. Right ?
And you probably also never spent summers in Kuwait too.
I was on my Harley ……it was scary driving in
the dust ….
I was getting ready to go to the sea with my boat and it was 12 noon, some how I checked windguru.com website and it was forecasting winds of up to 78 Kilometers per hour ! that was almost 6 hours before it hit, for some reason I decided to trust it and not to go to the sea, I even told friends that there will be a storm after 6 hours and no one believed it , How come some non Kuwaiti website can forecast it so clear and no one in Kuwait could ?
@Armando………..you old psychic you….
Wonder if all these climatic changes are happening because the moon got close to the earth ?
Well there are still a few more months for 2012 though. Need to think wisely if the world really is going to end then.
Actually thinking wisely is of no use. There is no way anyone could counteract natures wrath. Probably spending and enjoyin every last bit of cash could be a nice option, but in my own country of course :-).
People say that there is another storm and a stronger one coming!! Is this true!?