Dubai: Last Friday’s storm saw wind speeds of up to 65km/h across the UAE, leaving municipal workers to clean up hundreds of tonnes of waste and sand in the aftermath.
According to Dubai Municipality, it collected 720 tonnes of solid waste debris, nearly 900 tonnes of sand and 240 uprooted trees.
Dubai Municipality’s hotline number 800900 was also exceptionally busy during the day with more than 750 calls from the pubic who reporting several issues.
Eng Talib Julfar, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for Environment and Public Health Services Sector, explained that a dedicated team worked around the clock to address rainwater accumulation across the emirate.
He said that the damages witnessed in the city on February 3, 2017, was caused due to the region's vulnerability to strong winds, which ranged from wind speeds from 30 to 40km/h, but peaked at 65km/h.
Julfar said: “As a result of this, there were some mishaps such as the crane crash from one of the towers of Shaikh Zayed Road, as well as the destruction of many metal sheets used for the protection of construction sites."
“Wooden pieces and boards were blown out, which were scattered in many places. The violent winds also uprooted 240 trees. Some waterfronts were affected by the state of the troubled rough seas; the waves came up with large quantities of water to the Crescent of Palm Jumeirah area and parts of the Mamzar Beach, and some parts of the beaches of Jumeirah and Umm Suqeim. Our technical teams were immediately pressed into service,” he said.
In a statement, Julfar pointed out that waste management teams collected a total of 720 tons of solid waste debris, in addition to vacuuming, scraping, and collected nearly 900 tons of sand.
“All those things that were flown on the roads and squares resulting from storms were lifted, in addition to cleaning the remnants of traffic accidents,” he said.
Due to the relentless efforts of the municipality’s teams, Julfar said that the rain on Thursday night did not cause any traffic obstruction due to accumulation of rainwater.
The rainfall had ranged from light to medium (3 - 6 millimeters), but some parts of the city recorded 12 millimeters of rain accompanied by thunderstorms after midnight.
He added that Dubai’s programme for the rainy season included the comprehensive cleaning of 72,000 drainages, the 195,000 meter long main pipelines for rain water, and carrying out regular maintenance for the 59 storm water drainage stations that are distributed geographically throughout the city.
