KUWAIT CITY, Nov 12: The country on Friday witnessed heavy rains, which resulted in traffic jams on the main roads in various areas, reports Al-Qabas daily. The heavy rains led to the closure of some roads, while there were pools of rainwater on other roads and the amount of accumulated rainwater reached 20 centimeters. The daily’s staff toured a number of roads, witnessing the disruption of traffic movement due to the pools of rainwater and floods in certain areas due to the poor drainage system.

On the other hand, official spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Works, Ahmad Al-Saleh, revealed that a number of tunnels were closed as a precautionary measure taken by the General Traffic Department to ensure the safety of road users. He affirmed the emergency teams were immediately dispatched to deal with the rainwater pools and floods in various areas. Meanwhile, sources said Minister of Public Works, Electricity, WaterEnergy Dr Amani Bouqammaz on Friday had a meeting with the concerned ministry officials in the Operations Unit of the Maintenance Engineering Sector. Sources confirmed that the minister personally followed up the situation during the heavy rains.

Moreover, the Ministry of Health confirmed its readiness to deal with reports referred to the Medical Emergency Department, as well as the emergency departments in public hospitals to receive those injured in traffic accidents and incidents. A health sector official said the Medical Emergency Department operates 24 hours a day to deal with reports from various areas, especially during the heavy rains. The source added that ambulances were stationed in different locations to immediately deal with emergencies. In a related development, Al-Rai daily has reported that the heavy rains caused damages in Saad Al-Abdullah due to the flooded roads and roundabouts, which obstructed traffic movement.

The daily reported as well that Rabiah recorded the highest amount of rain according to the monitoring stations with a total of 25.4 millimeters, followed by Rumaithiya with 17 millimeters, Jabriya with 12.3 millimeters, Salmiya with 6.7 millimeters, Capital and Subiya with 5.8 millimeters, Jahra with 5.5 millimeters, Raqqa with three millimeters, Sabriya with 2.2 millimeters and Abdally with 1.4 millimeters. Also, the National Guard provided support to the Ministry of Public Works through the provision of equipment for siphoning off accumulated rainwater in different areas.