DOHA: Several areas in and around the city and elsewhere continue to be water-logged after two days of intermittent rains. People living along Al Rafiq Street in low-lying areas of Al Asiri locality of the city are suffering as knee-deep water is accumulated there.
Conditions remain bad in Wadi Raha area along D-Ring Road as well due to water-logging. In Nauija locality close to The Mall, several streets had developed water puddles making it difficult for the traffic to move.
Area 44 in Nauija was particularly affected. Several areas and roads in the far-off suburbs like Al Azizya, Muaither and Ain Khalid remained under water.
Some interchanges on Salwa Road had water puddles as well.
Meanwhile, people commenting on social networking sites expressed their unhappiness with the way the authorities concerned dealt with emergency water draining efforts.
“Why can’t the authorities identify vulnerable areas beforehand and take precautionary measures,” asked one commentator.
Another said rather sarcastically: “Despite all this modern technology we areas till in an era where we are using water tankers and pumps to drain out logged rainwater”. However, the emergency teams of the various municipalities said they had by yesterday morning pumped out some seven million gallons of logged water from different areas in Doha, Umm Salal, Al Khor, Al Rayan, Al Daayen, Al Dhakheera and Al Shamal.
The municipalities, though, admitted the pumping work was still going on as several areas all over remained water logged.
Ashghal said it had taken precautions in coordination with the civic ministry as early as September last year and that was the reason why there was no water logging in subways and on major roads. “We had put generators near pumping stations and linked all water pumping stations to a central control room,” said Ashghal in a release.
“We had trained our staff to tackle emergencies arising due to incessant rains and we had all the necessary equipment and vehicles ready,” the Public Works Authority said.the peninsula
