Thundery rainfall will continue in most areas of the country until the end of this week, the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) said after Qatar received heavy rains Thursday morning.
Head of Forecasting and Analysis Section at QCAA's Meteorological Department Mohamed Ali al-Kubaisi said that Doha recorded approximately 38 mm of rainfall and Al Wakrah 29.8 mm until 10am Thursday.
The rain brought down the temperature to about 30 degrees Celsius, providing “a sigh of relief” for many residents who have been complaining of the searing heat and humidity during the past weeks.
Al-Kubaisi expected the weather to continue to be cloudy with chances of scattered rain, which may also turn thundery at times, in coastal areas and in the sea during the next two days.
The Ministry of Interior has called on drivers to pay more attention and adhere to necessary safety instructions like maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle in front, sticking to the lane, reducing speed, and making sure that the windshield wipers are working while driving in the rain.
The Joint Rainfall Emergency Committee at the Ministry of Municipality has affirmed its readiness to deal with rains, by making all preparations and providing the work teams, equipment and mechanism necessary to remove water from various regions of the country on a timely basis and around the clock.
Based on continuous coordination with the Meteorology Department and following up on its daily bulletins, an official source in the committee explained that after the rainfall was predicted for Thursday , work teams, vehicles and necessary equipment were distributed in various areas of all municipalities, adding that bodies of water were immediately dealt with, especially in some areas of the municipalities of Al Wakra and Al Rayyan.
Work to remove water continues around the clock.
The main operations rooms at the ministry's unified call centre receives the reports related to water logging and transfers them directly to the designated emergency rooms in the municipalities to deal with them immediately, while coordination is also being made with the security authorities regarding the regulation of traffic , in addition to coordination with the parks departments in the municipalities to remove any tree that has fallen due to the wind and rain, and coordination with the General Cleanliness Department to clean all roads.
The operations room receives phone calls through the unified call center at the Ministry of Municipality (184) around the clock, in addition to the number 188 of the Public Works Authority.