UAE issues alert for more heavy rains; stay-at-home, online schooling advisory issued

THE UAE braces for a second wave of unsettled weather, featuring heavy rain, thunder, lightning, and possible hail on Tuesday.

The National Centre of Meteorology issued a bulletin after the initial bout of unstable conditions persisted from Monday evening to Tuesday noon, urging residents to stay informed and cautious.

The second wave that starts today would also witness an increase in convective cloud coverage, leading to varying intensities of rainfall, a Khaleej Times report stated. 

The NCM in its weather bulletin said, “Another wave begins from the Western areas and includes scattered areas of the country, where the amounts of convective clouds increase, associated with rainfall of different intensities, accompanied by lightning and thunder, and a probability of hail over some areas."

NCEMA in its notification on Monday advised residents to leave the safety of their homes only in “cases of extreme necessity". It has also urged people to park vehicles in “distant, safe, and elevated locations away from areas prone to flooding".

Schools transitioned online and government staff to telework due to impending severe weather. The forecast warns of intensified conditions with lightning, thunder, and hailstones damaging vehicles. Some roads are impassable due to flooding, causing vehicle breakdowns. Some residents have also reported electricity outages.

This is the second stay-home advisory issued by the authorities in two months. In March, residents were told to stay indoors as unstable weather prompted the closure of roads to valleys and mountains.

Meanwhile, the death toll in separate heavy flooding in neighboring Oman rose to 18 with others still missing as the sultanate prepared for the storm.