Shaikh Zayed Road waterlogging caused by drainage station fault

Dubai:  Failure of a drainage station led to waterlogging on Shaikh Zayed Road after Wednesday’s rains and thunderstorm, a municipality official told Gulf News on Thursday.

Talib Julfar, Director of the Drainage and Irrigation Department at Dubai Municipality and Head of the ‘Ghaith Dubai’ team, responsible for rain drainage, said: “We have been working on fixing the station since yesterday (Wednesday) with DEWA and the sub-contractor. Water had seeped into the station and caused an electric short-circuit that caused a fire. But we are working on it and we have provided pumps to remove the water that collected in the roads. The issue should be resolved soon,” he said.

The drainage station fault happened near the 10th intersection close to Emirates Petrol Station and Dubai Parks.

He said an exact figure of how much water was drained is not available. However, he said the amount of water that went into the drainage system is estimated to be around one million cubic meters and that the excess water sucked out of the roads was around half a million cubic metres.

When asked about flooded areas such as Dubai Investment Park and Discovery Gardens, he said that those communities have their private stations and equipment, and are not part of the areas covered by the municipality.

“They ask us for help, and we will provide it but after we have dealt with our own emergencies. We have offered to provide our services before, but such communities said that they will handle their own drainage, however in times of emergencies – like this –  they call us for help. But we have to prioritise our work first,” he said. 

Update: Shaikh Zayed Road has been opened to motorists in both directions, said Talib Julfar, Director of the Drainage and Irrigation Department at Dubai Municipality and Head of the ‘Ghaith Dubai’ team.