Rains lash UAE causing floods, traffic affected

December 24, 2013

Dubai, Dec 24: It’s not quite a white Christmas. Showers of rain, not snow, have lashed areas of the country causing flooding of some houses and roads.

Rain was recorded at a high of 28.2 millimetres at Sharjah Airport — almost 10 times the rain recorded at the other weather stations across the country. Dubai Airport registered 3mm, Jess Mountain had 5.8mm, while Fujairah, Umm Al Quwain, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah stations all measured negligble amounts. Despite RAK’s low recording of 0.2 mm, reports of the worst damage came from the emirate.

According to civil defence sources, heavy rains turned most of the internal roads and open sand spaces into pools of water.

“Traffic snarls are everywhere. Some houses, particularly at lower areas, have reportedly been flooded with non-stop rains,” the source said. Dozens of employees could not reach work in the morning as a result of roads being cut off by the rains. “The situation is expected to be worse with employees returning home in the evening.”

The traffic and patrols department of the RAK Police blocked all the roads and streets leading to the valleys most hit by the showers.

The emirate is still recovering from torrential rains, which fell about a month ago, that flooded and cracked many houses in the north, cut water and electricity supplies, and destroyed the furniture.

No major damage in Dubai

Rain caused no serious problems in Dubai, according to the municipality.

Dubai Municipality Sewage and Irrigation Network Department director Hassan Makki said the showers, that started in the emirate on Sunday night, did not cause any major damage.

“All our teams, the technical and administrative people are managing the situation,” said Makki, who also heads the Rain Committee.

Officials urged the public to call the Municipality Contact Centre’s hotline number (800900) to report any serious emergencies.

A National Centre of Meteorology & Seismology spokesman said seas had been very rough, with waves reaching upwards of 12 feet in both the Arabian Gulf and the Oman Sea.

“The sea will continue to be rough for the next three days till at least Thursday.”

There had also been winds over the country, with temperatures reaching highs of 24 degrees and lows of 14 degrees. Poor weather conditions including rain did not appear to be abating and may hang around for the next few days, particularly in Abu Dhabi and the west of the country, he said.

However, the weather is what was expected at this time of year, he said.

“It’s pretty much almost the same, just a slight degree from the average in terms of the temperature.”

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UN condemns Israeli regime’s ‘organized torture’ against Palestinians

News Network

November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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