ABU DHABI // Wednesday’s rain caused havoc on the emirate’s roads with police reporting a number of accidents.
A crash involving “multiple cars” happened in Sultan Street, near Al Saada Bridge, just after 4.30pm and blocked the inbound right lane.
About two hours earlier another accident involving three cars was reported on International Airport Road heading toward Sweihan. One car was on fire, according to @ad_traffic, causing all lanes to temporarily close. The road was reopened by 3pm.
It was unknown whether anyone was injured in the crashes.
The National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology warned of rough seas in the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, but said no weather-related warnings had been issued for street traffic.
“The heaviest rain recorded was 21.4 millimetres at Fujairah airport,” meteorologist Sufian Farrah said.
“Burj Khalifa recorded 3.4mm. In Abu Dhabi, it was 0.2mm, but some places along the coast of Abu Dhabi witnessed some instantaneous heavy rain for a short period of time.”
Mr Farrah said there would be a chance of rain on Thursday over the sea and western islands.
“The situation will become slowly and gradually stable on Thursday. The weather will become partly cloudy and there is a small chance for slight rain over the western part of the UAE,” Mr Farrah said.
Emirates Red Crescent said it opened an emergency centre in anticipation of having to quickly respond to potential dangers posed by heavy rains across the country, particularly in the Western Region.
ERC also set up field teams and organised volunteers to be on standby for rapid intervention in the event of rain damage, and ready to act in coordination with the civil defence and National Emergency and Crisis and Disasters Management Authority’s offices across the country and the Western Region.
rpennington@thenational.ae
