They say it never rains in Southern California. Lies!! That's what we say for the desert as well. We should say, it almost rarely rains in the desert (I"m sure that could also apply to Southern California as well). Lately here in the desert we have been experiencing some unusual weather. When I say unusual, I mean it's unusual for the dry and hot climate area I live in to get rain more than once in a month and just this week it has rained twice! That's ludicrous!
When it rains here, the kids and some adults go crazy because they are so excited to experience this rare occurrence. It's like how people act in Atlanta when it snows. Unfortunately here they don't shut the city down because of the inclement weather but they are just as unprepared as Atlanta for the foreign weather. First issue: they don't have a lot of drains in the first place because it doesn't rain often. Second issue: the drains don't drain due to being full of sand which causes flooding issues. Third issue: the driving is already crazy here and when it rains people don't make any adjustments to their driving. Crazy, right?! You basically don't want to be on the road when it rains because
Unfortunately I had to be on the road today while it was not only raining, but pouring. I would have loved to snap photos and videos to share with you all, but I was so scared. All I could do was say little prayers the entire way home, keep both hands on the wheel (there might be an imprint from my tight grip), and try to avoid getting into an accident. I did get some footage when I arrived home safely and I collected some from my friends. My rainy experience included:
- Being escorted to my car by one of the cleaners at work who had an umbrella. By the time I made it to my car, my feet were soaked because the parking lot was flooding.
- Driving at a snails pace
- Having cars flash their brights at me to move out of the way. If I didn't they were bold enough to venture into the flooded area to go around me.
- Fallen trees (Okay, I only saw one but at the time it added to the dramatic experience I was going through)
- Flooded and chaotic roundabouts. We have roundabouts literally all over town. (For those of you who aren't familiar: A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic flows almost continually in one direction around a central island.)
- Getting home and after being scared for my life, 10 minutes later the rain stops and the sun comes out.
Here's a picture after the rain had stopped. This street was flooding an hour before this picture was taken. The drains started working when the rain slowed down.
Take a closer look at today's weather:
In other news, (actually I'm still talking about weather) I also experienced desert fog. Also not a fan. You could be on one end of the road and by the time you get to the other side you can't see the car in front of you. If the fog gets really bad, some schools will delay the start of their day. By 9 or 10am the fog burns off. Take a look at what I experienced one morning.
My school
So the lesson for today is that you sometimes do have to check the weather, even when you live in the desert!
March 9, 2016
Just and update. Because of the rain that has continued off and on since yesterday, Abu Dhabi Educational Council has cancelled school for the rest of the week. Some of you may not know this, but teachers are usually a bit more excited about days off than the students.
Here's a post I saw online of an area further out in the desert - Liwa. Apparently they had bigger issues with the drains and still people are out on the roads. Craziness!
