He fell in one day the equivalent of a year of rain. Doha, the capital of Qatar more accustomed to the sun and 50 ° C in the shade, lived a very difficult Saturday. Submerged streets, drowned cars, flooded buildings, suspended air traffic ... The exceptional weather episode did not kill.
Qatar was hit Saturday by sudden floods. The very small state of the Gulf has received the equivalent of almost a year of precipitation in one day. The Abu Hamor weather station in the suburbs of Doha has measured 59.8 mm of rain, while the average annual rainfall in Doha is 77 mm, reports Steff Gaulter, chief meteorologist of the Qatari streaming news channel. Al Jazeera.
#Qatar receives heavy rainfall, Videos from different locations by Peninsula photographers # أمطار_قطر #DohaRain pic.twitter.com/p6bfubH2A4
- The Peninsula (@PeninsulaQatar) October 20, 2018In a city more accustomed to fighting extreme heat (up to 50 ° C in summer) than receiving buckets of water, the roads quickly became impassable. Houses, shops and car parks were flooded.
Stores and universities were closed, time to evacuate the water.
Staff, student, & faculty members, everyone is trying to clear the flood inside the hand @NorthwesternU #Doha #campus building @NUQatar # الدوحة_تغرق
via @jawahxr pic.twitter.com/JBDlad4q5L
Air traffic was a suspended time. Universities and the National Library have been closed.
In a country where the car, necessarily air-conditioned, is queen, the storms have a monster mess. The numerous underground passages, built to cross wide avenues with four or six lanes, were invaded by the waters, blocking the capital and its surroundings.
The images of cars almost completely submerged by water or rainwater seeping through the roofs in buildings that employees try to control, turn on social networks.
Already, some voices are rising to warn of a similar episode at the World Cup football, to be held in Qatar in 2022, in the middle of winter.
#Qatar
World Cup will play here pic.twitter.com/xFXgsoR51f