Dubai: While the water from a burst water pipe that flooded the Discovery Gardens area on Thursday has receded in most parts, residents are still reeling from the impact of the “disaster”.
A 1.2-metre diameter pipe cracked and burst at 10pm on Thursday, releasing massive amounts of water in the area. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has launched an investigation into the cause of the incident.
On Saturday morning, some sections of the access roads to the residential areas were still closed to motorists. Small puddles of water remain in low-lying areas.
Gulf News spotted Filipina expatriate Irene by her car in a parking lot behind Ibn Battuta Mall. She said her car wouldn’t start, probably due to water damage. Dried leaves and trash were deposited inside her radiator by the gushing water on Thursday.
“The flooding has caused a major headache for many residents. It was a total disaster,” said Irene, who declined to give her full name.
Zubair, a driver from Pakistan, has not left his truck since Thursday. His water tanker was stuck in the roundabout on the access road approaching The Gardens. Beside his vehicle was an abandoned Nissan Altima that had major water damage to its engine.
“Now is the second day that we’ve been here. We’ve tried almost everything. We’ve changed the batteries twice, checked the engine but still nothing,” Zubair told Gulf News.
“We haven’t had any business for three days. Worse, we’ve not gone home yet. We’ve been sleeping here since Thursday night as we cannot just leave our truck here,” he added.
Pakistani expatriate Umer left his apartment at The Gardens on Saturday morning to check on his two cars that had been stuck in the water on Thursday night. Despite this, Umer said he still counts himself lucky to have transferred them to the nearby mall’s parking space at midnight on Friday.
“I’ve spent Dh400 for cleaning and making sure that both cars are OK. One is, but the other one is not. Water must have affected the wiring as its airbag indicator has been blinking constantly since Friday. And when you step on the brakes, you hear a funny sound like there are bubbles inside,” he told Gulf News, adding that at least 10 big buckets of water were taken out from inside his car.
“Thank God we didn’t have underground parking. Otherwise all the cars would be gone by now,” he said.
