Around 13 million gallons of rainwater removed

Doha: The teams of the Rainfall Emergency Committee at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment have removed around 13 million gallons of rainwater from across the country.

Most of the parts of the country received rainfall of different intensity up to about 20 millimetres (mm) yesterday especially early morning, according to Qatar Meteorology Department (QMD).

Safar Mubarak Al Shafi, Head of the Rainfall Emergency Committee, who is also the Director of General Cleanliness Department at the Ministry said in a statement that over 12.9 million gallons of rainwater was removed from all municipalities till yesterday evening.

He said that the teams equipped with tankers and other necessary machines are working round-the-clock to clear the water-logging on a priority basis from residential areas and highways to ensure the safety and security of people and smooth traffic. “The Committee deployed 251 tankers, 30 water pumps and field teams comprising 527 people to remove the rainwater,” said Al Shafi.

He said that control rooms at the municipalities received 186 calls seeking to clear water-logging. He added that the operation is continuing to remove all rainwater and response the calls.  “The teams rushed to low-lying areas with the beginning of rainfall,” said Al Shafi adding that the operation is continuing round-the-clock.

He said that the operation is being carried out by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment in coordination with all authorities concerned to ensure a smooth traffic flow so education institutes, health centres and other organisations of the country can function normally.

Qatar Meteorology Department (QMD) tweeted yesterday morning that latest radar image shows rain of variable intensity and thundery at times in most areas of the country.

The Department said that it recorded highest rainfall of 19.6 mm in Al Batna followed by 10.8mm in Al Ghweriah. Abu Hamor received 10.8mm; Ras Laffan 10.2mm; Al Ruwais 7.9mm; Doha Airport 7.6mm; and  Mesaieed 7.1mm.

QMD has warned of strong wind at some places by midday today. Today will be partly cloudy with chance of light rain at some places at first becomes relatively hot daytime and mild by night.