Extreme weather hits parts of Dubai

Heavy rain and hailstorms have lashed parts of Dubai, but completely missed other parts of the city.

Heavy rain and hailstorms have lashed parts of Dubai, but completely missed other areas of the city. In parts of The Greens, Media City and Jebel Ali, 1cm-diametre hailstones gathered on the ground, giving the areas a wintery appearance, while water accumulated up to 50cm deep on the roads, causing traffic chaos. Areas around Dubai Creek remained dry however, as the highly localised storms passed by without drenching them. Dubai expatriate Salam Hafez said he saw first hand how localised the storm was while driving through the city. "Along Sheikh Zayed Road, it was bad for about 10 minutes and then you come out (of the rain zone) and it's like nothing happened," he said. "During the rain, everyone slowed down to about 60kmh and had their hazard lights on." In the Greens, he saw 1cm hailstones. "It was horrendous. There was no visibility because of the hailstorm," he said. "There were hailstones accumulating on the ground but it was so windy, it was being driven horizontally. The hailstones didn't last long on the ground." But he said the rain had flooded roads to up to 50cm and the water was not draining away quickly. "It will probably be a disaster in the morning." At Media City, flooding on the roads near the Radisson Hotel reached 15cm and was causing traffic chaos. Another observer from the hotel said the storm lasted over an hour and rekindled memories of floods a year ago in Dubai which caused major disruptions in the city. "This could be another disaster," he said. "This time last year, there was really really bad that flooded everything everywhere. It shut down the city for two days." Last night, heavy rain had lashed Khalifa City B on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. An inch of rain flooded some roads, with one heavy 20 minute burst during a thunderstorm that lasted several hours. Tariq Cordeiro, a 34 year-old filmmaker, was preparing to go to Dubai when the heavy rain began. "I was concerned about driving in the heavy rain, especially with the roads beginning to flood outside the house and decided to postpone the trip until tomorrow," he said. "It was refreshing to see rain like this as it hasn't really rained this heavily in a long time." Seif Al Mutairi, 25, an English language student, was woken by the barking of his two dogs who were outside at the time the heavy downpour came down shortly before 8am. "It's unusual for the dogs to bark unless there is someone approaching the villa," he said. "When I got up to see what they were barking at, that's when I saw the rain coming down, so I let them inside. They were soaking wet." Mr Al Mutairi, who arrived from Saudi Arabia in March of last year said it was the first time he had seen rain like this in Abu Dhabi. "In fact, the last time I saw rain like this was almost three years ago in Jeddah," he said. The rain over Khalifa City lasted several hours with the most intense downpour lasting 20 minutes. Light to medium rain also fell in Al Ain overnight, flooding some streets and roads there as well. And moderate windy rains lashed Ras Al Khaimah and neighbouring areas for the third consecutive day, causing a drop in temperature, the state news agency WAM reported. According to the Abu Dhabi International Airport's Meteorological Office, conditions will be partly cloudy and cool in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi until Friday with a chance of rain today in Al Ain. [e-mail]