Steve may think that I’m a liar, but I really have enjoyed the weather here. That is until we had our first real rain. For those of you who have never lived in one, rain and the desert do not go well together. We had lived here for 6 months without rain and I hadn’t missed it at all, but Steve and the girls talked about it all the time and were delighted when we got caught in a downpour in Greece (I wasn’t so thrilled).
A week after we got back to Abu Dhabi, we signed up for a kayaking expedition. We took off from the large island of Abu Dhabi and headed toward some of the smaller uninhabited islands under some very dark looking clouds. We felt the first few drops when we were stopped at a small beach. The whole group was excited about the rain (it was a very gentle rain at this point). It continued to rain lightly off and on the rest of the day.
The next day, it was a little bit more aggressive. It wasn’t a steady rain, but now I was seeing large puddles everywhere. People started to panic. Drivers who can probably count on one hand how many times they have driven in rain were out in force (kind of like Floridians driving in the snow). It was total chaos. I was so happy that I had picked this day to drive to Dubai (45 minute drive normally) to finish my Christmas shopping…..NOT. It took me double the time to get home (1 ½ hours).
Because it only rains 1 to 2 times each year, the roads are not built with any drainage. This means that all the rain collects in large puddles on the streets. The more it rains, the bigger the puddles until some of the roads are completely under water. This is what started to happen on day 2 of the rain (when I was trying to get home). At this point, I think most of the inhabitants of the UAE were done with the rain, but alas….it was not done with us.
The next morning, I woke up early to go for a run. It drizzled on me the entire time, but other than dodging large puddles, it wasn’t too bad. I came back to the house and was checking my email while I was cooling off and started to hear a noise that I couldn’t identify. It took me a full 5 minutes to realize that it was rain hitting the roof. It was coming down in sheets. I was thrilled that I had come back from my run in time, but then as it continued, I realized I was going to have to take the kids to school in it.
I pick up 2 extra kids every day on our way to school. I was able to get my girls in the car and buckled under cover of the garage, but not the other two. I was looking like a drowned rat before we even got to school. It seemed to start to rain even harder when we pulled into the parking lot of school. Trying to get 4 kids under 7 out of a car with their backpacks and lunch boxes in a timely manner is not possible. Now I wasn’t the only drowned rat around. We ran for the door and in the process found a puddle that went half way up my calves….NICE. I was very done with the rain at that point.
I had to run some errands that day so I went to the grocery store and to pay some bills. Luckily all these things were in a mall with a garage so that I didn’t have to go out in the weather. I did however have to negotiate many large lakes (no longer merely puddles) in the road. At one point I went through a puddle and I could feel the water on the door of my SUV (not good). I quickly got off that road!
I went back home and changed ALL my clothes (everything was wet at that point) and decided to check FB while I did some laundry. Many of my friends here in Abu Dhabi were posting about all the leaks in their house due to the rain. Just like the roads here, the houses are not made very water-proof. I very happily posted back that I was one of the lucky ones without a leak. Not 5 minutes later while I was watching our pool overflow, I heard a noise coming from the front door. Water was literally pouring in from under the door into our foyer….so much for no leaks. I grabbed some towels and stuffed them under the door and hoped that the rain would stop soon. Steve had called me and asked me to check the balcony off our bedroom (one of his co-workers has the same house and water was flooding into the house from the balcony). While our balcony was fine, our roof was not. As I walked down the hall towards our room I discovered water freely flowing from the ceiling in the hallway. I grabbed a bucket and some more towels and cleaned up the best I could. I then spent about 30 minutes trying to call the maintenance company about the leak, but discovered that everyone else was doing the same thing (I got a busy signal every time I called). I finally got through and they promised to send someone soon. I’m still waiting 4 days later. Thank goodness it stopped raining.
Even though I make light of the rain here, it was pretty serious. I just read an article in the newspaper that claims 4 people died and over 75 were injured due to the rain. Whole roads and bridges were shut down for days and we are still trying to dry out. The picture above is of a construction site behind our neighborhood 3 sunny and hot days after the rain stopped. I wish I had thought to take a picture earlier to show you how crazy it really was. Let’s just hope that it doesn’t rain here again any time soon!
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