Dubai: A burst water pipe caused flooding on the Abu Dhabi-bound side of Al Khail Road since the early hours of Thursday, causing a domino of traffic snarls on other major roads.
The flooding has caused a serious traffic jams on key Dubai roads from the morning rush hour until early afternoon on Thursday.
Dubai Traffic Police has been diverting traffic since 3am on Thursday, closing down a number of lanes as the Municipality and DEWA work on the problem.
Talib Julfar, Director of the Drainage and Irrigation Department at Dubai Municipality, said that they received a report about the incident at 5am, and they immediately dispatched teams to the location.
“There are some 67 workers, technicians and drivers from the Municipality working on this incident. We also dispatched 18 water tankers to remove the water and five diesel pumps,” he said.
Adding that they are diverting the water to the rain drainage network, “DEWA had asked us to open the rain drainage openings, but we also provided extra services to help remove the excess water,” he said.
By 12.45pm on Thursday, he said that five lanes have been opened to traffic, from the three lanes that were open a few hours before.
“We expect that the entire road will be opened for traffic flow within two hours,” he said.Earlier report:
The Jebel Ali-bound side of Al Khail Road ground to a near-standstill for hours following the water-logging, causing a chain reaction of traffic jams on other major thoroughfares, including the Shaikh Zayed Road, which links Dubai with Abu Dhabi.
Images sent by the Dubai police and sent by Tweeps show the flooded part of the road that slowed down the flow of vehicles.
Emergency workers rushed to the scene with water pumps and tankers to siphon off the spill.
Water logged on Al Khail Road towards Al Marabea exit. A little traffic congestion due to that! #Dubai pic.twitter.com/edaWPg1HUY— Anupama Nath (@pANUromic) May 19, 2016
Take another route! #DubaiTraffic #Dubai #Traffic pic.twitter.com/rvEIDwbOO5— Anas Almarie المرعي (@AnasMarie) May 19, 2016
