Heavy rain lashes Ras Al Khaimah

Emad Al Deen Khalil And Adnan Okasha, Staff Reporters

The emirate of Ras Al Khaimah on Sunday witnessed medium to heavy rains, which lasted continuously  for almost an hour and a half. The rains caused dense run-offs in various parts, including valleys of Al-Liat, Al-Huwaidi, Al-Muzeira, Musaili, Thuraimeda, Shahat, Al-Ajili, Masafi, Asfni and Shouka.

According to Saeed Al Quaidi, the official of Shouka area, which is 114 km south of Ras Al Khaimah city, the rainfall began at 3:30 pm and last until 4:30 pm continuously.

The rains extended from Shouka to Wadi Burraq, covering the nearby mountainous highlands. The weather consequently tended to be cold during the rainfall, as temperatures and humidity noticeably dropped.

The rainfall was accompanied by thunder and dusty storm and no damages were reported, according to the sources.

For its part, the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) warned individuals to exercise caution when driving in the event of rain and low horizontal visibility due to the dust raising winds.

The centre also indicated, “The region is being affected by thermal low over the southwestern part of the country, leading to southerly winds causing blowing dust/sand by the afternoon, with the approach of Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) accompanied by an upper trough leading to accumulation of convective clouds during the coming days.

It also expected that the weather today will be fair to partly cloudy and hazy at times over some areas with a probability of convective clouds eastwards. Light to moderate southerly to southwesterly, becoming northwesterly winds expected that will be freshening at times causing blowing dust during daytime, with a speed of 20–30km/hr, reaching 40km/hr at times. The sea will be slight to moderate in the Arabian Gulf and in Oman Sea.

The sea condition is expected to be rough at times in the Arabian Gulf and mild to moderate in the Oman Sea during Wednesday and Thursday, the NCM added.