Dubai: High velocity winds and heavy rain poured down on several parts of the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday. The incessant rains have battered major pockets of the UAE over the last few days and as per weather forecasters, the conditions may remain to be the same for few more days.

Flights were delayed as airports had to be closed down. Schools were shut, and establishments like the Abu Dhabi stock exchange and other offices wrapped up early and employees sent home with a word of caution about falling trees and flying objects on the roads, as videos of the storm wreaking hurricane-like havoc went viral on social networking platforms like WhatsApp, reported The New Indian Express.

Winds of 60-100 knots uprooted trees and traffic poles. Several imags and videos making rounds on social networking platforms show that incessant rains have inundated several localities submerging cars, buses etc.

Although the airports were eventually reopened and operations resumed, warnings of more inclement weather in the next two days have forced schools to declare a holiday on Thursday too.

In Dubai:

Wet weather has sparked chaos in Dubai to the extent that on an average 36 accidents took place an hour over the seven-hour period on Wednesday.

Going by the statistics of the Dubai Police command room, over 3, 200 emergency calls were received and recorded 253 traffic accidents between 6am and 1pm.

As per report in 7days.ae, Colonel Khazrag Al Khazragi, deputy director of the Dubai Police command room, said: “We recorded 253 traffic accidents during the rainy weather. The accidents were mainly minor, but we also had major accidents.”

However, it is confirmed that there were no fatalities despite the staggering numbers of mishaps.

At the same time, the police have clearly spelled out warning for the motorists to follow traffic instructions.