Dubai authorities are threatening severe action against contractors and companies that fail to follow correct construction procedures after flooding yesterday that caused one of the worst traffic jams seen on Emirates Road. Water gushed from an artificial lake beside the road near the Dubai Silicon Oasis on Emirates Road, causing flooding that brought vehicles to a standstill.
The incident happened at 8am, during peak traffic on the road, and motorists heading to work were stranded for up to five hours as the authorities struggled to cope with the water and divert traffic. Hussain al Banna, director of traffic at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and head of the RTA emergency team, said a crew had been dispatched to the spot immediately. "The team, in collaboration with Dubai police, immediately closed [the] Al Qusais-bound stream of the road and diverted traffic to Al Ain Road, University City Road and Dubai Bypass Road," he said.
Dubai Municipality said it received a call at 7am and immediately dispatched water tankers to the scene. "Initially, we were using five tankers but we then had to send many more because of the huge quantity of water on the roads," said Abdul Majid Sifaee, the director of drainage and irrigation at Dubai Municipality. It took 16 tankers more than six hours to clear the road. He said it was "still not clear whom the water reservoir belonged to but we know that it was not a Dubai Municipality project".
The RTA said an investigation was under way to identify the company responsible for the flooding. "Necessary actions will be taken to prevent recurrence of similar incidents in future," said Mr Banna. "Such incidents involve huge financial losses and may involve human losses, as well as wasting time and effort." He warned companies it was "vitally important to keep preventive measures in place as [the] RTA will not be lenient in taking appropriate measures against offenders".
The company responsible for the flooding faces a fine. The effect of the traffic jam was felt as far away as Sharjah and conditions on Emirates Road did not ease until late in the afternoon. "Being peak hour, traffic was already heavy on the road and the large number of heavy vehicles also added to the mess," said Anil Kumar, a motorist who became stuck in the jam. Last night, rush hour traffic at 6pm was crawling as the impact of the flood continued to cause havoc on the road with drivers stuck in slow moving queues. As the clean-up continued, some parts of the road were still not clear by 6pm.
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