Latest: Dubai and Abu Dhabi braced for more rain and wind
Beleaguered residents are counting the cost of a day of weather woes after heavy rain caused their homes to flood.
Tenants said they were forced to switch off power supplies for their own safety as the hours-long deluge caused water to gush into the properties.
They are left facing a major clean-up operation at buildings they said were ill-equipped to withstand such ferocious downpours.
One embattled parent said he was woken by his young son who had spotted water leaking in through the roof of their home in Jumeirah Park, Dubai.
“This is an adventure we didn’t quite need. My son woke us up at 4am to show us the leaking roof in his bedroom and then we had to get to work with makeshift buckets and mops,” said Ajay Shukla, who lives in district seven of the development with his family.
“The scary part was water coming through the electrical points and even the electrical box. We had to call security to switch off the power supply and then moved downstairs.
“We are living like nomads in our own home.”
Sabina Hammed, who lives in Emirates Living district eight, turned off the electricity when water seeped into the electrical box.
“I don’t want a short circuit, so we switched off the power in the house,” she said.
In Jumeirah Park, residents said the flat roofs of their homes were waterlogged.
“Our drains cannot cope with so much water. The rooftop has become a pool,” one resident wrote on the community’s Facebook page.
“I’m trying to drain the water and have filled up around six big-sized buckets.”
Antonio Abreu, a resident of Discovery Gardens in Dubai, woke up to find the water level rising in the parking areas near his home and shifted his vehicle to safer ground at Ibn Battuta Mall nearby.
“Many cars are stuck. I managed to take my car out and moved the car slowly so as not to get water in the engine because it is almost like a river in some parts,” he said.
“This happens every year here when there is heavy rain. I hope they finally will solve this flooding problem.”
