by Lynne Roberts and AFP on Thursday, 17 January 2008-ArabianBusiness.com
STORM LASHED: Dubai police recorded 584 accidents and two deaths within a few hours on Wednesday. (AFP)Gulf states are counting the cost of subzero temperatures and torrential rains, as weather this week claimed a number of lives across the region.
Rare downpours in the UAE forced schools to close on Wednesday and created traffic nightmares for citizens, trapping drivers for hours, flooding main avenues and cutting off some roads.
Dubai and the northern emirates were worst-affected, gaining some relief as heavy storms gave way to dry weather later in the day.
Story continues below ↓
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Dubai police recorded 584 accidents and two deaths within a few hours on Wednesday, with reduced visibility and speeding cited as the cause for most incidents.
Five people were killed and 1,307 accidents recorded on Tuesday amid forecasts of more rain, according to the Abu Dhabi-based daily Al-Ittihad.
Heavy rains have also lashed tiny gas-rich Qatar for nearly a week as temperatures dropped to an unusually low seven degrees Celsius, and authorities reported 1,200 drainage operations.
In Bahrain, which had its lowest recorded temperature of 2.7 degrees Celsius in 1964, the mercury dropped to between five and seven degrees Celsius over the past few days, but there were only scattered showers.
In Kuwait, where temperatures soar to above 50 degrees Celsius in July and August, the mercury dropped to sub-zero temperatures, but the state has had virtually no rain this winter.
The temperature in the open desert dropped to minus three Celsius at dawn on Wednesday for the second straight day, while passengers landing at Kuwait airport were greeted by minus one Celsius.
According to Kuwait's meteorological department, the lowest temperature ever recorded in the open desert was minus four Celsius in 1964. The cold spell was expected to continue until the weekend.
Saudi Arabia, a vast country with an area of 2,240,350 square kilometres covering most of the Arabian peninsula, has also been hit by a unprecedented cold spell.
"Kingdom finds itself in icebox," headlined the Saudi daily Arab News on Sunday as the capital Riyadh officially reached zero Celsius.
Snow has fallen on some northern Saudi cities where at least two people died from the cold. One was an Asian worker, and the other an Egyptian who froze to death in his room on the farm where he worked, newspapers said.
Another Egyptian worker died from inhaling the fumes of a coal fire he lit in his room.
Papers said King Abdullah ordered emergency relief supplies, including foodstuffs and blankets, to be distributed to needy citizens hit by the weather.
by Lynne Roberts and AFP on Thursday, 17 January 2008-ArabianBusiness.com
STORM LASHED: Dubai police recorded 584 accidents and two deaths within a few hours on Wednesday. (AFP)Gulf states are counting the cost of subzero temperatures and torrential rains, as weather this week claimed a number of lives across the region.
Rare downpours in the UAE forced schools to close on Wednesday and created traffic nightmares for citizens, trapping drivers for hours, flooding main avenues and cutting off some roads.
Dubai and the northern emirates were worst-affected, gaining some relief as heavy storms gave way to dry weather later in the day.
Story continues below ↓
advertisement
Dubai police recorded 584 accidents and two deaths within a few hours on Wednesday, with reduced visibility and speeding cited as the cause for most incidents.
Five people were killed and 1,307 accidents recorded on Tuesday amid forecasts of more rain, according to the Abu Dhabi-based daily Al-Ittihad.
Heavy rains have also lashed tiny gas-rich Qatar for nearly a week as temperatures dropped to an unusually low seven degrees Celsius, and authorities reported 1,200 drainage operations.
In Bahrain, which had its lowest recorded temperature of 2.7 degrees Celsius in 1964, the mercury dropped to between five and seven degrees Celsius over the past few days, but there were only scattered showers.
In Kuwait, where temperatures soar to above 50 degrees Celsius in July and August, the mercury dropped to sub-zero temperatures, but the state has had virtually no rain this winter.
The temperature in the open desert dropped to minus three Celsius at dawn on Wednesday for the second straight day, while passengers landing at Kuwait airport were greeted by minus one Celsius.
According to Kuwait's meteorological department, the lowest temperature ever recorded in the open desert was minus four Celsius in 1964. The cold spell was expected to continue until the weekend.
Saudi Arabia, a vast country with an area of 2,240,350 square kilometres covering most of the Arabian peninsula, has also been hit by a unprecedented cold spell.
"Kingdom finds itself in icebox," headlined the Saudi daily Arab News on Sunday as the capital Riyadh officially reached zero Celsius.
Snow has fallen on some northern Saudi cities where at least two people died from the cold. One was an Asian worker, and the other an Egyptian who froze to death in his room on the farm where he worked, newspapers said.
Another Egyptian worker died from inhaling the fumes of a coal fire he lit in his room.
Papers said King Abdullah ordered emergency relief supplies, including foodstuffs and blankets, to be distributed to needy citizens hit by the weather.