Dubai Police helped answer the call of thousands of residents seeking emergency support when the emirate was lashed by rainstorms on Thursday and Friday.
The force received 39,299 calls over the two days, including 32,391 made to its 999 emergency hotline, as heavy rain, thunder, lightning and high winds hit Dubai.
Call centre teams responded to 347 emails and managed 1,690 live chat conversations through the Dubai Police website to ensure the safety of the public.
Dubai Police praised the dedication and professionalism of teams at its command-and-control centre, and the 901 control centre, who it said worked round-the-clock to field what it described as a "significant spike" in enquiries.
Police reminded the public to use 999 only in emergency cases and 901 for non-urgent matters and service-related queries.
Bad weather causes disruption
As the bad weather moved last Friday, Emirates airline announced 13 of its flights from Dubai International Airport would be suspended due to the treacherous weather.
A number of other early-morning flights from Dubai's main travel hub, operated by domestic and international airlines, were also grounded or faced delays.
Persistent rainfall caused flooding on roads and in communities across the country. Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority used more than 300 fixed and mobile pumps in flood-hit areas to help drain water from roads and ease traffic congestion.
Dubai Media Office later said all main roads were clear, in a social media post shared at about 12.40pm on Friday. It thanked emergency response teams for helping to keep people in the emirate on the move.
Shortly before 4pm, Dubai Municipality announced in a social media message that beaches, public parks and open-air markets – closed on Thursday as a safety measure – had reopened due to improving weather.
Ras Al Khaimah flood response plan
Meanwhile, authorities in Ras Al Khaimah have pledged to shore up flood resilience after the emirate received more than a year of rain on Thursday and Friday.
Col Jamal Ahmed Al Tair, deputy commander-in-chief of Ras Al Khaimah Police, toured flood-hit areas alongside Ali Rashid Al Nyadi, director general of the National Emergency National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority in the aftermath of the severe rainfall.
Col Al Tair stressed the need to safeguard the public and property and to find practical solutions to mitigating the impact of future extreme weather events.
RAK Police said comprehensive surveys would be carried out of affected sites to boost their resistance to flooding and rain.
The National Centre of Meteorology said it recorded 127mm of rainfall in the Al Ghaznah area of the emirate over the two days.
Statistics from the weather bureau show that Ras Al Khaimah bore the brunt of the unstable conditions.
The port area of Mina Saqr had 123mm of rain, with the mountainous areas of Jebel Al Rahibah and Jebel Jais both hit by more than 115mm.
Typically about 100mm of rain falls in the UAE annually, and this has dropped below 50mm during recent dry years.
