Heavy rain spell to continue until Saturday in UAE

Top Stories

Schools close early, airshow cancels final-day activities and Global Village shuts

By Nissar Hoath, Muaz Shabandari, Sajila Saseendran, Amira Agarib And Afkar Abdullah

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

Published: Fri 22 Nov 2013, 10:34 AM

Last updated: Tue 27 Dec 2022, 11:21 AM

Rain showers force shutdown all across UAE

Residents across the country woke up to the season’s heaviest showers, which slowed down traffic, forced authorities to close schools early and brought an abrupt end to the high-voltage Dubai Air Show on Thursday.


Multiple instances of thunder and lightning were reported across the UAE.

Al Ain saw heavy winds starting Wednesday evening. Cloud disturbances at midnight led to heavy rain in the early hours and the entire Abu Dhabi-Dubai Highway was flooded. Schools across the region were affected and students were sent home before midday as the Ministry of Education asked them to close early as a precautionary measure.


Global Village remained shut on Thursday, and also due to inclement weather, the last day of the Dubai Air show was cancelled.

In Abu Dhabi, the Education Council (Adec) sent a circular to all private and public schools to send students home before 12pm due to the unstable weather condition. Even exams that were scheduled for Thursday were postponed to December 4.

The Adec also asked school officials to ensure that parents or guardians receive their children from Emirates Transport or personally pick them up from the school.

Heavy rain spell to continue

Muaz Shabandri

Weather officials in the UAE are predicting the heaviest rainfall in a decade following thunderstorms that lashed different parts of the UAE early Thursday morning. A low-pressure weather system has affected the entire region and several areas of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Northern Emirates are set to receive moderate to heavy rains over the weekend.

“Heavy rainfall is expected in most regions of the UAE and it is likely to increase tomorrow and continue till Saturday. Parts of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Northern and Western regions will receive rains, thunderstorm and lightning,” said a meteorologist at the UAE’s National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS).

A senior NCMS official denied rumours suggesting the possibility of any tropical storm passing through the UAE. However, he confirmed cloud seeding techniques were being used to increase rainfall in southern areas of UAE. — muaz@khaleejtimes.com

Loi, whose Grade 3 daughter goes to the Twenty First Century Private Academy in Abu Dhabi, said the Philippine school had decided to send their younger students home from early in the morning.

Students at the British International School were also sent home in school buses by 12pm following the Adec circular. Other parents came to collect their children, according to one of the teachers. At Al Yasmina school, the primary section was flooded, said a senior student.

In Dubai, more than 221,000 students were sent home early. School officials confirmed receiving the circular as Clive Pierrepont, Director of Communications at Taaleem Education, said: “We have received communication from the KHDA (Knowledge and Human Development Authority) to close schools early today as weather conditions are expected to deteriorate. School heads have already been informed to make arrangements to send children home.”

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA), representatives of the General Headquarters of Civil Defence and the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) said they were ready to tackle the emergencies caused by bad weather conditions. The Ministry of Interior also said it was prepared to deal with the situation nationwide, as the unstable weather is likely to continue till tomorrow

-news@khaleejtimes.com.


More news from Weather