Rain, sandstorms and heavy winds yesterday caused chaos on the roads, halted work at construction sites and forced the postponement of sporting events.
The most serious incident happened on the Dubai Bypass Road when nine people were injured – one seriously – in a 23-car pile-up due, said police, to speeding in reduced visibility. Several cars overturned and a number of the vehicles were knocked under lorries.
Some of the lorries contained flammable materials, which police feared would aggravate the situation. One person was seriously injured, while the rest suffered moderate to minor injuries.
There were eight reports of crashes in Abu Dhabi yesterday. None resulted in injury.
The bad weather, which is thought to continue over the weekend, was the result of a number of scattered low pressure systems that settled across the UAE, said the weather centre in Abu Dhabi.
Major General Khamis Al Mazeina, the deputy head of Dubai Police, said that Sheikh Hamdan, the Deputy Ruler of Dubai, visited the accident scene shortly after it occurred and requested immediate action to transfer the injured people and remove the damaged vehicles.
Traffic was moving at a slow place on Emirates Road and Al Ain road, and panic-stricken pedestrians and outdoor workers were seen running for cover to escape the battering winds and incoming sandstorm.
"The wind was too much. Our site manager has asked to stop the work," said Lakshman, an Indian worker.
"It was indeed severe. I could not see anything for some time. It was too bad," said George Randell, a resident in Dubailand.
In Ajman, two construction workers were rescued from a temporary building lift that was swaying dangerously in high winds.
Civil defence crews went to a building site after being alerted by worried staff. The two men were trapped inside the lift and could be heard screaming for help.
"Our team managed to stop the lift and found that one worker had injured a leg," said Brigadier Saleh Al Matroushi, director general of Ajman Civil Defence. "The injured worker was taken to Sheikh Khalifa hospital."
Rescue teams were also sent to Ajman beach to warn people to stay out of the water.
The weather forced the cancellation of the Speed Cat Run scheduled on the sidelines of the final round of the 2012 UIM X-CAT World Powerboat Series at the Fujairah International Marine Club.
"It would be unwise to put the drivers and crews of the boats at risk with the winds gusting to nearly 25 knots," Mohammed Hareb, the race director, said.
It is hoped racing would go ahead today, though Mr Hareb said that race officials were monitoring the weather conditions on an hourly basis, given the fact that winds speeds are predicted to increase. "We have various options before us and we will take a decision closer to the race," Mr Hareb said.
"There was slight rain recorded in some parts of the UAE yesterday and instability will continue with a chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday," said a forecaster at the met office.
He said the weather would remain partly cloudy to cloudy today and urged the public to stay off the beaches.
"Wind blew up the sand into open areas and resulted in cloud formation, reducing visibility in many parts of the UAE. Seas will remain rough with waves reaching a height of eight feet offshore," he said.
Despite the weather, organisers of the Tri Yas triathlon and the Red Bull X-Fighters Dubai event said they would go ahead with their plans today.
The triathlon will be held at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi with more than 900 contestants and, although a practise run for the Red Bull X-Fighters had to be cut short yesterday, the event will go ahead at Jumeirah Beach Residences in Dubai, organisers said.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
|
1.
|
United States
|
|
2.
|
China
|
|
3.
|
UAE
|
|
4.
|
Japan
|
|
5
|
Norway
|
|
6.
|
Canada
|
|
7.
|
Singapore
|
|
8.
|
Australia
|
|
9.
|
Saudi Arabia
|
|
10.
|
South Korea
|
More coverage from the Future Forum
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
Heather, the Totality
Matthew Weiner,
Canongate
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key features of new policy
Pupils to learn coding and other vocational skills from Grade 6
Exams to test critical thinking and application of knowledge
A new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance, Assessment, Review and Analysis for Holistic Development) will form the standard for schools
Schools to implement online system to encouraging transparency and accountability
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
