Child dies and mountain is closed off due to bad weather in UAE

Four-year-old boy dies and seven of his family members are injured when the vehicle they were in rolls after trying to avoid a pool of water on the road.

RAK Police says it dealt with 19 emergency cases across the emirate as a result of the weather, including the towing of stalled vehicles and car crashes. Courtesy RAK Police

A child died and seven of his family members were injured during heavy rain.

The four-year-old Indian boy was in a vehicle that was involved in an accident in the central region of Sharjah on Sunday afternoon.

Sharjah Police said the crash took place near Junction 10 on Al Dhaid Road, when the driver tried to avoid a pool of water and lost control of the vehicle, which swerved and then rolled several times.

Police and an ambulance crew arrived at the scene and the boy was taken to Al Dhaid Hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival.

His family sustained moderate to severe injuries and were take to Al Qasimi Hospital for treatment.

The boy’s death was the second known to have been caused by the heavy rain after an Emirati in his 20s lost control of his car in Fujairah the same day.

In Ras Al Khaimah, the country’s highest peak, Jebel Jais, was closed from Sunday morning until yesterday morning after heavy rain caused flooding.

Police and the Public Works and Services Department had to drain water from the road leading up the mountain and then conduct safety checks before the route was reopened to tourists and mountaineers, said Captain Khalid Al Naqbi, head of the media department at RAK Police.

“It was closed due to the heavy rain on the mountain, where there was water on streets and wadis, and in order to preserve the safety of people,” Capt Al Naqbi said.

He said two families had to be helped back down to the foot of the mountain, which peaks at about 1,900 metres.

“There were two families who could not continue ascending the mountain top due to unclear vision during the heavy rain, and that necessitated the police’s intervention to help them return to the bottom in cooperation with ambulance and rescue teams at RAK Police,” he said.

“There were also people on the mountain top when it started raining, but they got back down without any help.”

Even though the mountain road is newly built, and has good drainage, flooding still occurred as the water ran down, Capt Al Naqbi said.

RAK Police said it dealt with 19 emergency cases across the emirate as a result of the weather, including the towing of stalled vehicles out of flood water and car crashes.

The rainfall in RAK also led to flooding in areas such as Wadi Bih, Ghalila, Shaam and Qadaah.

Mariam Hareb, acting assistant undersecretary for Water Resources and Nature Conservation at the Ministry of Environment and Water, said that water in dams and lakes in the northern part of RAK now amounted to 94 million gallons after the recent rain.

Sharjah Police urged motorists to exercise caution while driving during bad weather and to abide by speed limits.