Contingency plan to address climatic impacts

BY PMA RASHEED

The Gulf Today, 2 March 2010

In anticipation of the unexpected and turbulent climatic conditions experienced in Dubai on Sunday night, the civic body has formulated a contingency plan to address the impact of the heavy downpour and storms.

The operations and cleaning services section of the municipality's waste management department has fixed water clogging issues on roads and streets in various parts of the emirate, by opening at least 688 drainage holes.

The teams being deployed to manage the consequences of the rain as part of the emergency rain response system will continue operations in the next couple of days cover all areas of the emirate, said a senior official at Dubai Municipality (DM).

Abdul Latif Ali Al Jallaf, Head of Operations with Irrigation Maintenance Network Section of the DM, said, “The emergency management teams included 50 cleaning workers, 10 supervisors and 10 vehicles stormed into action to remove all the waste accumulated around it.”

“The emergency team also responded to 77 complaints of residents to remove rainwater mixed with drainage gathering on public places harming the normal life. The team removed remnants of trees uprooted due to severe windstorm blew on Sunday evening in 35 locations of the emirate,” he added.

According to him, the rainwater and storm also caused the civic waste containers moving away from the places they were set up.

”A total of 42 waste containers were fixed by the emergency team, which collected the debris flown out of the containers as a result of the strong wind, and deposited back to the containers until the arrival of trucks for transporting waste,” explained Al Jallaf.

”The team also cleaned up the main streets of the sand accumulated on the shoulders of the streets that were causing obstruction to traffic. Work is still in force in accordance with the plan of action set for team members,” he said.