Dubai homes endure heavy damage from the New Year storms

By: Braden Gerow, Opinion Editor, The Pawprint

Dubai homes, specifically in the desert villa communities near Al Qudra, suffered the worst of the rain damage, with cases of roofs collapsing, drain blockage, and heavy leaking. 

Maintenance companies have reported being swarmed with calls. According to The National, Khalid Mohammed of ATS Maintenance Services stated that they had received almost 100 calls over the course of a mere three days. 

People and their houses were unprepared for such heavy rainfall, considering that 141.8mm of rain fell, which is substantial considering the annual average of just 100mm. 

A woman named Mhorag Fernie also reported that her case was feeling helpless, after being told that there was nothing that could be done about her partially collapsed roof, and only managed to get her drains unblocked. Furthermore, there was another resident in the same community who reported a total power outage for two days, due to water leaking into the fuse box.

It is important to note that all of the most intense damage was taking place in newer communities, not necessarily in the communities that encountered the most rain. Appropriate waterproofing on roofs of the newer houses evidently has been a major oversight, and the managing director of Emaar Properties has assured property owners and tenants that their problems will be resolved.