This is how Dubai handled the rain

Dubai - The Dubai Horse Race arena was also cleaned to facilitate the prestigious Dubai World Cup

The massive rain and turbulent weather had clogged streets and cancelled events on the weekend, but Dubai Municipality team were on roll.
He said the Dubai Horse Race arena was also cleaned to facilitate the prestigious Dubai World Cup.
"All these streets have been cleaned of accumulated water and the sand, debris and residues washed away with rain have also been removed from the roads."
A total of 50 of the municipality's tankers, in addition to 60 more tankers of contractors were used in cooperation with the RTA, which also facilitated the cleaning work.
"The labourers, technicians and other team members deployed in the affected areas throughout the Emirate worked with a competitive spirit to solve the emergency issues on a continuous and faster pace until the removal of all obstacles that can block traffic," he said.
Julfar said that each tankers transported many water loads, especially from areas not connected to the sewage network in some areas of Jumeirah and behind the zoo.
He noted that Dubai has 55 sewage stations and rainwater network, and more than 80 per cent of them are covered with sewage and rainwater drainage systems.
 "With regard to cleaning the manholes, which is available all over the world, Dubai has a sandy environment, so you need to make more effort and this is part of the responsibility of Dubai Municipality during the rain."
Julfar stated that the reason for the accumulation of rain water is that the developers stop receiving the treated water from the treatment plants as the free water provided by rain is sufficient. 
"Therefore, we are studying the possibility of providing all developers water without charge during the rainy season and urge developers to use the treated water until the load on the treatment plant is reduced. As the stations do not have storage tanks to retreat water it is disposed in the sea or used on the streets or parks or major projects implemented by developers," he said.
"After the Municipality succeeded in starting the operation of the rainwater drainage station in Jumeirah 3, it will be connected to the rainwater drainage network at Jumeirah 2. So that we can benefit from the capacity of this station in discharging rain water without loading the Municipality the cost of the establishment of another station, especially when the capacity of the plant established at Jumeirah 3 can accommodate many times of the number it currently serves," Julfar said.
Reporters@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE