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Rain floods road

DUBAI — The country was lashed by strong winds and heavy rains yesterday.

The heaviest showers of this winter flooded roads, houses, shops and uprooted trees in many areas. Hundreds of minor road accidents were also reported across the country.

While, traffic came to a standstill in several parts of Dubai and Sharjah and the public parks and beaches remained deserted, the rain- soaked day also marred a number of outdoor celebrations organised by various government departments to mark the UAE’s 35th National Day. A number of events lined up in Dubai and Sharjah were cancelled, or, postponed owing to the rains, organisers said.

Watani Programme announced that the National Day celebrations planned for December 2 including the event at the Mamzar Park at 5pm were postponed till further notice. The UAE Balloon team which was supposed to stage a show at the Union House at 6am yesterday morning was forced to postpone the programme due to the heavy showers.

A source at the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) said around 15 outdoor events in various parts of Dubai had to be postponed. “One of the major events, the preparation of the biggest Al Lukaimat, a traditional Arabic dish was postponed to Sunday due to heavy rains on Saturday,” a statement from the DTCM read.

The culinary event was supposed to feature more than 300 chefs from various nationalities preparing 35,000 pieces of Al Lukaimat and to be distributed to the public at Heritage Village.

Celebrations at the Qanat Al Qasbah in Sharjah stand cancelled, while the UAE National day celebrations with a public meeting at the Indian Association Sharjah had to be cancelled in the wake of the inability of the people to attend the event due to bad weather. The Dubai Rock 2006 to be held today, organisers said, “is now rescheduled for December 14 because the venue is a mess due to the rains.”

Rain continued to play havoc causing huge water ponds in the sandy patches in Sharjah, Ajman and Dubai with a number of parked cars submerged in the water. Many of the roads, particularly in Sharjah and Ajman were also water logged bringing the traffic to move at a snail’s pace in these emirates. A portion of a road under construction in Deira collapsed due to the heavy shower and water accumulation, it was reported.

Water flooding in homes

Several residents complained of water flooding into homes and leaking ceilings. “Most residents have faced a tough day clearing their homes flooded with knee deep water and leaking ceilings,” complained a woman who along with her family was forced to abandon their house and take shelter in their friends’ home in an adjoining area.

“ This time it is particularly very bad,” said the resident, expressing helplessness over the damage caused to her home and furniture during the heavy rain spell yesterday.

A spokesperson at the Meteorological Office of the Dubai International Airport (DIA), the downpour was caused by a low atmospheric pressure.

Phil Targett, duty forecaster at the Met Office, said the unsettled weather condition resulted to the mercury dropping at 18 degrees Celsius, with the highest temperature registered at 20 degrees Celsius.

Airports unaffected

Meanwhile, despite the heavy rainfall, operations at the Dubai International Airport and the Sharjah International Airport have remained unaffected with flights departing and arriving as scheduled.

Targett said that the weather is predicted to be fine today. “We can expect a fine weather condition with chance of rain in the afternoon and evening,” he said. The Met Office has also forecasted that the rest of the week from Monday until Wednesday will remain partly cloudy.

The Dubai Police reported over 100 minor accidents in several parts of Dubai. A source said over 30 minor road accidents were recorded during the day by Bur Dubai Police station, Jebel Ali — 15, Rashidiya — 20 and Al Ghusaisd 20. The Dubai Civil Defence however had no major emergencies to attend except for a couple of cases of short circuit.

In Abu Dhabi, the day-long rain yesterday brought the temperature down to 20 degree Celsius from 31 degee C. The Meteorological Department of the National Authority of Communication recorded 6.5 mm rain in Abu Dhabi from 9am till 6pm yesterday.

Many outdoor National Day celebrations planned along the Corniche had to be cancelled due to the heavy rains. According to the Meteorological Department, there will be gradual improvement in the weather conditions with less amount of clouds and weak chance of rain starting from west area of the country.

For the next 48 hours, the weather is expected to be cloudy with a chance of rain over northern areas, the temperatures will be around mean values, with moderate wind and sea waves rising upto height 2-4 ft. Generally, the UAE winter continues until March. Temperatures during these months vary between 20-35 degrees Celsius in daytime, but can go as low as 15 degrees C at night. Infrequent rainfalls are normal, as well as sandstorms and fog, which occurs during some winter mornings. A report from Sharjah and Ajman said roads, parking lots and roundabouts all turned into pools of water due to the heavy rain that lashed the country on Friday night and yesterday.

Cars submerged in water

Cars in parking lots of residential areas were submerged in the water, giving a hard time to the owners.

The residents blamed the poor drainage system in the emirates which according to them, is “ becoming worse” with every passing year.

Sources from Sharjah Police said there were minor accidents occurring within the emirate of Sharjah.

The traffic police worked hard to direct the traffic on the intersection where its signal lights stopped functioning briefly due to the rains.

In Ajman the situation was worse as several residents were almost cut off with the streets being submerged in rain waters. The emirate resembled a huge lake. Areas like Al Nuaimia, Al Zahra and Corniche Road were all flooded with water. However, Ali Al Matroushi, an official from Ajman traffic Police said no major accidents were reported despite the flooding of the roads.

Al Ain City and its surrounding areas received moderate rains yesterday. The sky remained heavily overcast with strong winds. Rains continued to lash the city for several hours. A Met official forecast more rains in the next couple of days. Al Ain city recorded a maximum temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and humidity rose to a maximum of 100 per cent on Saturday. The forecast for Sunday stated that the city would see “very cloudy and overcast skies with possibilities of thundershowers during the day”.

The RAK emirate yesterday experienced heavy rains that lasted for several hours and flooded almost all of the emirate’s streets, valleys and dams with a dip in temperature. The showers started pouring since early dawn and continued throughout the day, affecting traffic. The RAK Air Wing Section (AWS), in cooperation with different sections from RAK Police Department conducted a large-scale operation to rescue around 300 holidaymakers who had been stranded by the heavy rains and floods that hit different parts of the emirate.

People stranded

“Most of the stranded people were families and individuals from different nationalities who went out to celebrate the National Day besides workers of construction companies and quarries,” Captain Pilot Saeed Al Yamahi, of AWS, told Khaleej Times.” Most of the operations took place in Al Beeh Valley and Al Beeh Grand Dam, located around 10 kilometres to the west of RAK old city, where the heavy floods destroyed parts of the asphalt road making it impossible for cars to move,” he added.

Teams from Coats Guard Section (CGS) managed to rescue a ship that veered due to the heavy storm and rains that hit the emirate’s coast. The Iranian vessel was said to have changed its course while it was on its way from Dubai to Iran carrying around 150 tonnes of foodstuffs. The CGS boats towed the broke-down ship to the RAK Port for maintenance. The ship’s eight-member crew sustained minor injuries and was treated in the emergency department of Saqer Hospital.

A man died on the spot when the car he was driving lost control and rammed into a power post in Al Geel area. The mishap was believed to have been caused by slippery road conditions.

The RAK Public Works Department (PWD) and RAK Civil Defence Department (CDD) dispatched several teams to pump out water from a large number of houses and streets to normalise the traffic.

Dubai Rock postponed

THE organisers of Dubai Rock 2006 scheduled to be held today have postponed the event to December 14 following the heavy rains and bad weather conditions.

Allan Jackson, the event director, Spotlight, said “We left no stone unturned to make this event the biggest one ever on Dubai soil but due to non-favourtable weather conditions and in the interest of public safety at large, we have decided to postpone the event to December 14.”

“There is no need to worry as tickets can be exchanged for the new date. Enquiries can also be made on 050-8469777/ 050-8472999,” he added.