Dubai: Dubai Municipality's Drainage and Irrigation Network Department has been working round-the-clock since Saturday clearing streets and neighbourhoods of accumulated rain water.
The department's entire staff (380 people) have been put on 12-hour shifts, with the director himself cutting his annual leave short and taking the first flight back to Dubai. Some members, including senior staff, are volunteering to stay on for up to 30 hours feeling that they can continue to help.
The department has split the emirate into nine zones with each zone being handled by one supervising engineer and five to six teams.
At the department the phones have been ringing off the hook and the switch board is lit up like a Christmas tree. "We are getting too many calls," said Sharifa Mohammad, who handles the switchboard.
"The calls are coming from Al Rashidiya, Jumairah and mostly Al Quoz," she manages to say between calls. "I really feel for them as I know their situation but the entire fleet is out there doing the job... there is nothing more they can do."
The department's 39 tankers and 82 mobile pumps have been online since the rains began.
Gulf News accompanied Abdul Majeed Saifaie, Director of the department, on one of his many patrols around the city yesterday.
"Thankfully the network has been running at 100 per cent, we've not had any major faults, some minor ones but that's to be expected and they have been fixed," he said as we drove out towards Emirates Road.
The network had a slight setback yesterday morning as the Al Garhoud and Al Qusais pumping stations lost power. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) were informed and power was restored wihtin an hour.
"The volume of rain we have been getting is more than the capacity of the network, and therefore it takes one or two hours more to clear the water. The rain is continuous that's why we get water ponds, but that doesn't mean that the network has failed, it's just a matter of time before it's cleared."
Major accumulation
As we approach the border of Sharjah on Emirates Road we find the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) have closed off the exit as there is a large accumulation of water.
"We have installed 14 mobile pumps here, there were seven on Saturday and we've added seven more yesterday.
"This is a major accumulation area due to the slope of the road, as water from both the Dubai and the Sharjah side of the road flows into this area."
"Some of the water accumulations you see on the road are due to ongoing construction on the road and that is being handled by the RTA."
"We have a target that after the rain completely stops that roads should be cleared within seven hours."
He explained that areas that are not connected to the storm water network are the ones mostly affected. These include areas on the outskirts of the city, new government housing projects and areas covered by private developers.
As we pass Al Nahda, Saifaie spots a residential area with a large accumulation of water, he calls the zone engineer. "This might be due to a blocked pump or something but it should be cleared within the next couple of hours.
"People are very negative. Rain is a blessing not a curse; people all over the world pray for rain. Look at the news this week; you have earthquakes, tsunamis and disasters happening around the world," he says as we drive back to the department building.
