It is raining heavily on the capital Riyadh at the moment, and the situation looks disastrous. From what I can see, it is a scary reminder of the Jeddah floods. People are stuck in highways and streets around the city, especially in the north and east. Major roads are blocked. At least one person is dead. The Civil Defense and the Ministry of Health have announced a state of emergency. You can follow the news on Twitter in real time using the hashtag #riyadhrain. You can also use RiyadhRain.com, which aggregates content from Twitter. People in Riyadh are advised to stay home as heavy rains are expected to continue.

UPDATE: Watch these videos taken in Riyadh earlier today:

UPDATE 20:50 5/3/10:: It started raining in Hofuf and other cities in the Eastern Province.

UPDATE 21:00 5/4/10:: Jihad has created this very useful interactive map of Riyadh. The map shows blocked roads and streets in red so drivers can avoid them. The roads in green are reported to be okay. You can contribute to the map by using this form. The info on the map are for the last three hours.