Roadways in Khalifa City under 30cm of water

While the 18.6 millimetres that fell on the city was not as much as other places across the country, it was also struck by intermittent power cuts and lightning.

Khalifa City suffered the most flooding of all the areas in Abu Dhabi hit by the rains. While the 18.6 millimetres that fell on the city was not nearly as much as some other places across the country, it was also struck by intermittent power cuts as lightning lit up the night sky. Yesterday, some roads in Khalifa City remained blocked by flooding up to 30 centimetres deep and much of the area was caked in mud.

Ameera Arafat, 24, an Egyptian resident in the area, said: "Yesterday we couldn't go out. We started driving out then turned around and came back home." She said parts of her home had flooded. Marlina Khadam, 56, from Lebanon, said: "The rain was so hard and huge raindrops came down fast on the floor and went through into the house flooding the kitchen and bedrooms. "Everything got soaked. We spent the morning cleaning up and sweeping the dirty muddy water out of the house."

Many residents said the lack of roadside drains contributed to the flooding. "The water was too much, it was flooding in all places," said Saubair, 38, from India. @Email:[e-mail]