Dubai’s Remraam residents among worst affected by storm

Flooding in Remraam Dubai sums up the woes brought on Dubai by the heavy rain. Courtesy David Benson

DUBAI // The downpour caused severe flooding in the Remraam complex in Dubai as cars were submerged and residents told to shut off their electricity.

Rainfall caused the residential community, 20 minutes from downtown Dubai, to suffer what tenants called “the worst flooding they’ve seen”.

“We’ve been here for two years and it is the first year that it happened, and I think this is the most rain I’ve seen in Dubai. Last year it wasn’t like that at all. We didn’t have any leakages but right now it is just overwhelming. All my towels are on the floor,” said Soumayya Libdi, a resident of Remraam.

Management advised residents to turn off electricity to avoid any chances of shocks.

Luckily for Ms Libdi, her freelance employment meant that she could quickly attend to the water that leaked into her flat, but other householders were not so lucky.

“The damage isn’t as bad as it could have been if I wasn’t here. We are sleeping in the apartment. We can still live here, but other neighbours it is not the case, especially people on the ground floor – for them it is flooding and it is getting very bad,” she said.

J M, who was at work when his wife called told him that a Facebook group was sending messages which said that the flooding was out of control.

“I couldn’t leave and it just meant that I had to ask my wife to go see what was going on in the apartment,” he said.

Unfortunately, he said that, driving a sedan, she could not get access to the apartment complex as underpasses were flooded.

“So I left work. It took me about 30 minutes to get to our apartment and it was completely flooded. Water was coming in from everywhere, our neighbours were trying to help but I could already tell that water damage had happened,” he said.

Living on the ground floor, the British couple spent the rest of the day trying to make sure the damage did not get worse.

“I don’t know how much this is going to cost, but I really hope that management does something about this, it’s just unacceptable,” he said.

Remraam resident David Benson, from the UK, ran into trouble when he tried to get to his car.

“Well, I looked out the balcony and I saw the roads were starting to flood. It was raining heavily and I couldn’t see where my car was parked but when the rain subsided I walked around and saw that my car was underwater.”

His car was parked outside in one of the designated parking areas.

“I’ve lived in the complex for three years now, and we’ve never got flooding like this. Normally you’ll get pools but I have seen no action in the past 12 months to clear any drains out,” he said.

“The entrance road of Remraam community experienced flash flooding due to sudden heavy rain,” developer Dubai Properties said.

“Deploying the highest standards [of health and safety], Dubai Properties, Ejadah and Taziz’s senior HSE personnel were on location and are in the process of executing quick solutions to address the issues.

“Tankers have been promptly dispatched to manually extract the excess water and the community’s pumps were put to use to support the tankers. All the manholes were opened to remove the water from the main roads leading to the community, and a temporary access has been opened from the construction site area, to offer safe exit and entry to the community in case the inclement weather conditions persists,” the company said.