Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah: The rainwater that flooded the streets of Sharjah for the past week is slowly being drained away, allowing residents to finally travel around the city without the worry of getting stuck.
The roads that were previously flooded, such as Al Wahda Road and Al Estiqlal Road, near Sharjah Immigration, yesterday improved, relatively, as the municipality continued to use tankers to pump out the water.
Nanda Kumar, a resident of Abu Shagara, said the city cannot afford to experience such heavy rains again soon. "It is marginally improving but not as much as I expected it would," said Kumar.
"The water level has slowly reduced but it is better than it was two days ago, because with all that water it felt like I was living on an island.
"I have to drive to Dubai for work and there was a lot of traffic, [but it is better] that I do not have the extra burden of getting stuck in water on the drive out from home."
Hassan Al Taffaq, a representative of the Drainage Section at the rain emergency committee at Sharjah Municipality, said they are exerting all their efforts in tackling the aftermath of the rain.
"All the residential areas have been drained and we are now focusing on the industrial areas. More than 300 water tankers have been used across Sharjah, and we have concentrated on improving first the areas of Emirates Road and the old area of Sharjah in Al Shuwaiheen," he said.
"We have also deployed a team to continue cleaning the drainage network, to ensure that it is working properly."
Residents were also relieved that the main roads leading to Dubai were opened once again, but were sceptical on the improvement of the waterlogged roads within the industrial areas.
"Although Emirates Road is much better now, the street in the industrial area that leads towards Airport Tunnel is still quite flooded," said Stanley Doraiswamy, a Sharjah resident.
"The neighbourhoods in the city have improved because two days ago they used to be four feet deep in water, but even though there is less water it remains stagnant because the drainage system is not working properly."
Meanwhile, in southern Ras Al Khaimah, streets are being fixed by the Department of Works and General Services, after cracks appeared because of the heavy rain. The streets have been closed to traffic.
A senior official said the department was working to open roads in the remote areas of Shoukah, Kadrah and Wadi Sfeni.
