*RIYADH: Traffic came to a crawl and people remained in their homes as asandstorm swept across the western region of Saudi Arabia on Thursday.*

As per Saudi media, sandstorms hit several cities in Saudi Arabia anddisrupted road and air transport across the Kingdom as the sandstorms hadseverely restricted visibility in various areas, including Jeddah, Makkah,as well as neighboring parts of the region.

The early warning center of the national Saudi Meteorology and Protectionof the Environment agency issued a nationwide warning stating that unstableweather will affect many areas Thursday and Friday.

The agency said the capital Riyadh will also get its share of the sandstormand it is expected to continue until midday on Friday.

The sand and poor visibility resulted in several accidents in SaudiArabia’s second city Jeddah.

Makkah also suffered as a result of the storm. Maritime traffic wassuspended in and out of Jeddah’s port due to poor visibility.

King Abdul Aziz airport authorities announced that smooth operationscontinued at the airport despite the storm.

Earlier, the sandstorms led to temporary closure of 6 airports in northernSaudi Arabia due to strong wind mixed with dust.