No electricity, Net, water in some areas after rain
The UAE experienced the highest rainfall in its modern history on April 16, which left residents grappling with flooded homes and praying for safety. Many buildings, villas, and townhouse communities in Sharjah and Dubai have been without electricity following heavy downpours since Tuesday.
Some apartment blocks in the Al Majaz area in Sharjah have been without electricity and internet since 3am on Wednesday due to flooding that began on Tuesday afternoon, causing rainwater to flow into lifts.
“There has been no power in our building since 3am. Therefore, we also don’t have internet at the moment. Thankfully, we managed to fill a bucket after the electricity went off because now there is no water supply,” said Umm-e-aiman, a Sharjah resident.
She continued: “We can’t go anywhere because the entire area is flooded. Previously, we used to go to malls or drive around in our cars if there was a power failure in our buildings. But even that is out of the question now. We have a hypermarket just 50 metres away, but we can’t go there because the entire road is flooded, and we can’t even see a footpath to walk to the hypermarket”.
Poonam Chawla, a Mudon resident, said they don’t have internet since 7pm on Tuesday. “At least we have electricity, but some people in the community don’t have that. We can’t do anything now – neither go out to any coffee shop because roads are flooded. We can’t move out of the community as water is seeping into four-wheel drives; therefore, we can’t step out of the house,” said Chawla, a long-time Dubai resident.
Poonam children are unable to attend online classes. “We hope life will be back to normal soon.”
Echoing Poonam, Umme-e-Aiman said her daughters also cannot attend online classes as there is no electricity or water.