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Roads, Water Pipes Hit by Landslide in RAK

The landslide formed a 9-metre deep ditch on the road.

Major Ahmed Abdul Rahman Al Bagham, Chief of General Operations in the Traffic Patrol Section in the police, said traffic patrols rushed to the scene and blocked the road soon after the landslide.

Mohammed Saleh, Director of the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA), said the authority was doing everything possible to restore water supply to the affected areas.

Heavy rain in recent days has also caused pools of stagnant water in residential areas, posing a threat to the health of residents, and also causing leakages from ceilings of dilapidated houses.

Residents in areas like Khozam, Julfar, Al Dhaid, Kharran, Nakheel and remote areas have complained of pools of water which they fear might become breeding places for mosquitoes and microbes.

Doctors also warned of children contracting water-borne diseases. Dr Yusuf Al Twair, Head of the Emergency Section at Saqr Hospital, said besides being breeding grounds for mosquitoes, stagnant water near houses poses a threat to children as bacteria might cause skin diseases.

He urged parents to stop their children from playing in these pools and advised them to immediately drain accumulated water out from their houses or call the municipal officials for assistance.

On Monday, some of the roads in Khozam area were still flooded and people had to use longer routes to reach their houses.

Abbas Rajab, a resident of Khozam area, said that during the weekend, cabbies refused to take passengers to some destinations fearing they would have to drive through the flooded streets.

J. Salem, a senior official of the Department of Public Services in Ras Al Khaimah, said officials have been working tirelessly to drain the rainwater flooding some streets.

They were coordinating with the municipality and working hard to set up proper drain systems in most areas of the emirate to ensure that the rains do not affect residents in the future.

Residents of areas like Julfar and Dhaid also complained of leaking roofs in their dilapidated houses.

Some residents said they had to shift to the houses of their friends for shelter.

Old ceilings and cracked walls of some houses are on the verge of caving in, posing threat to the residents.

Muhammad Al Shihi, who resides in Julfar, said he feared for the safety of his family members, especially during the rainy season as the rainwater which leaked into his 40-year-old house had spoiled a lot of things.

“Sometimes, pieces of ceiling plaster fall on us,” he said.

Al Shihi said he had applied for a new house built under government housing scheme in the emirate a few years ago, but has yet to get possession of one.

Khalid Ahmed, resident of Al Dhaid, said rainwater enters his house, which he had recently repaired. Since it is a very old house, the repairs were of no help as new cracks developed in the ceilings and on the walls.

He said whenever it rained, his family switches off power for fear of current running through the damp walls.

A senior official from the Ras Al Khaimah Municipality said that under the municipality’s current development plan, all dilapidated houses will be demolished and new houses built under the Zayed Housing and Saud Housing Programmes.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com

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