Abu Dhabi: As schools across the UAE closed on Thursday due to bad weather, several private companies also followed the suit.
One employee of a prominent insurance company in Abu Dhabi told Gulf News. “We received an email from our headquarters early this afternoon saying that we could leave offices by 2pm and our offices would be closed by that time instead of the regular closure of 3.30pm.”
He said his company’s offices in other parts of the country, including Dubai and Sharjah, were also closing.
“All were happy to go home early, especially on a Thursday afternoon, ahead of the weekend,” said the employee, who did not want to be named.
He said friends working with other private companies in the same building were also leaving early.
Meanwhile, truck drivers said scores of trucks had been held up on the highway from Mussaffah to Al Ghuwaifat at the UAE-to-Saudi border.
Heavy rains and winds were lashing out in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi since Wednesday afternoon and some parts of the highway were flooded, they said.
As a precautionary measure, police begun stopping the trucks just after Mussaffah and let them go after they cleared the bottlenecks on the highway.
“Now there is a long line of trucks between Al Mirfa and Al Ruwais,” said a Pakistani truck driver.
