Residents take extra care at leaky mall in Dubai

Dubai: Residents took extra caution when out shopping at one of Dubai's most recent malls, the Dubai Outlet Mall which had cordoned off large parts of their entrance lobbies and blocked access to escalators due to puddles and leaks.

Puddles formed on both levels of the mall where tenants only opened up their stores four months ago. Some parts of the ceiling made of plaster had gotten soggy and fallen down.

A Gulf News reader contacted the paper alarmed at the amount of water coming into the shopping centre. "I come here with my wife and child. I think it is very dangerous. Where the ceiling has fallen down I can see pipes and wires. The place is dripping everywhere," he said.

A number of outlets in the foodcourt had closed and were mopping up water and any ceiling plasterboards that had fallen down. "The store room is worse," said a chef from a fast food outlet.

Rhonda Fletcher, head of marketing at the Dubai Outlet Mall said this was inevitable and caused by bursts of rain in the UAE. "We have 12 days of rain a year and this is what happens. If you go to all the other malls you will see the same thing," she said.