Manama: Qatar’s Prime Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Thani has ordered that all people and companies involved in the projects that have failed the test of rains this week be referred to investigators and subsequently to the public prosecution.
On Wednesday, the Government Communication Office said that five companies so far would be investigated and that all parties proven guilty of negligence or failure, be they private or public, would face justice.
The storm rains that lashed Qatar on Wednesday revealed the precarious state of several infrastructure projects, including roads, flyovers, and government, commercial and private buildings.
As water submerged many roads, people were shocked to see that the newly-opened state of the art airport building was flawed and that rain seeped through the roof.
The Sheraton and Hilton hotels, the new traffic directorate building, some malls and schools were also affected by the rain, prompting angry reactions from social media users who took pictures, videos and snapshots and shared them online.
Some schools had to cut the power off to make sure that students are not electrocuted, a report in Qatari daily Al Raya said.
A clip that went viral on the internet showed how part of a ceiling collapsed on employees’ tables in a government building while in another video, the submerged roads triggered a wave of scornful and angry comments.
Reports in the capital Doha said the heavy downpour started at 6am and continued throughout the day.
As the water on the roads rose and formed pools, traffic came to a standstill in some areas.
Workers had to exert special efforts to ensure that the major arteries of the capital were not blocked, witnesses said.
However, families complained about how difficult it was to move or to reach facilities where ponds of water had formed.
The daily weather bulletins have for one week forecast heavy rains, but the chaos that hit the capital showed that people did not expect the rains to be this severe and that they were not prepared.
Paramedics responded to 250 emergency calls and road traffic collisions between 6am and 3pm, Hamad Medical Corporation said in a statement. The figure marks an increase of 50 cases over the day before.
Last year, an investigation was launched when the Salwa Road underpass was flooded in the wake of exceptionally heavy rainfall.
The probe concluded that the flooding was caused by the lack of an outlet for the road’s drains.
