Dubai: As the country prepares for a major storm front that could purportedly dump the most rainfall in more than a decade, Dubai officials say they have deployed the staff and equipment to stave off flooding incidents.

In interviews on Thursday, officials told Gulf News that strategic planning and field surveys on low-lying areas of the emirates were conducted to ensure safety of citizens.
By last count, the civic body had a total of 2,000 of its inspectors, engineers, technicians and drivers on stand-by yesterday as they prepared to receive emergency rain-related calls — authorities are advising residents to stay calm and not misuse Dubai Municipality’s hotline 800 900 and request for assistance for trivial, rain-related incidents.

No flooding incidents were reported, and the Rain Committee at Dubai Municipality are in contact with the UAE’s National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology.

Hassan Makki, director of Sewage and Irrigation Network, and Head of the Rain Committee at Dubai Municipality, told Gulf News yesterday that 40 water tankers and 70 mobile mechanical pumps have been put on stand-by to cope with the storm that is expected to hit the country over the weekend.

“The committee prepared for the rain at least three months ago, to ensure that the storm drainage network is clean and to fix any technical problem that may occur. A lot of preparation has been done to ensure that roads and residential neighbourhoods will not be affected,” said Makki.

Global Village continued to be closed yesterday due to the unpredictable weather conditions forecast in Dubai. According to a statement by Global Village, the decision was made based on consultations with the Civil Defence and Dubai Police and the National Centre of Weather Forecast.

Khalid Sulaiteen, head of the Environmental Emergency Office at Dubai Municipality, explained that based upon the heavy rains of previous years, the most high-risk areas prone to flooding are Sonapur, Al Quoz, and some low level areas in Al Rashidiya.

“We urge the public not to call the municipality hotline unnecessarily, as we tend to receive dozens of phone calls that waste the department’s time. During such changes in the weather, residents tend to over exaggerate the effects of the rain and claim that their houses were flooded when in reality it is not. People should only notify us in emergency cases,” said Sulaiteen.

“Dubai is well-equipped to cope with the strong wind and heavy rain, as we have an efficient storm drain network that can properly cope with the rain water in a short period of time. As we expect rain to continue over the next few days, we are patrolling the streets across the city to Jebel Ali and Hatta. The majority of the roads were not affected and we did not experience any challenges,” he said.