Thunder Bolt and Lightning

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

We had a wild rain storm last night in Fujairah. The lightning was hitting close by. One hit was so close it was more like a pop than a rumble.

http://instagram.com/p/gsqylOpUjT/

The electricity went out all over town. At least in the buildings without their own electricity generators. We found ourselves in the dark except for the battery run light in the entry way. We expected it to take quite some time – hours, if not days.

I settled down with a book and a candle, but before I could finish reading the first page, the lights came in. That spoiled the reading mood, but it was pleasant since it was starting to get a bit stuffy and warm without any air conditioning or fans running.

Lighting Up the Sky

Posted by Kanga.

Two nights ago we were on our way home from the grocery store and saw something flashing, very bright, lighting up the sky. It was happening so frequently and at such regular intervals, we thought it might be man made. We actually turned around and drove back to investigate.

It turned out to be lightning. There didn’t seem to be thunder, until I realized that there were no individual claps, just a contant rumble. It was quite a light show and then the rain started. Lovely, huge, cold drops.

Thar be Rain Here!

Posted by Kanga.

I finally got to enjoy a rain storm here in Fujairah. It happened suddenly at approximately 2:30 pm. Lightning, thunder, and torrents of rain for a goodly while. It was still raining, although more gently at 3:50 when I left work.

Sand is not as absorbant as you would think. Basically, the top few inches get soaked and then turn into temporary cement, so this results in a lot of water not being absorbed causing large puddles.

A flooded roundabout is a special kind of lake. (Sorry, no picture.) It slows people down, but doesn’t really improve their roundabout manners.

Rainy Day

Posted by Kanga.

It’s been raining all day. For Pacific Northwesterners (U.S.) who have a plethora of words for describing rain, it has been mostly “sprinkling.” This denotes a very light rain (not as light as “misting”), but lighter than an actual “rain shower.” In Oregon, this rain would definitely not require the use of an umbrella and not even a coat, except for the wimpiest of citizenry.

But, since we, in the U.A.E. have brightly sunny and dry days nearly all year, this precipitation is of note. As I stepped out of the apartment building this morning I saw several book bags abandoned on the porch and three school boys standing out on the sidewalk where they could get (at least a little bit) wet. One was definitely exalting in the water falling from the sky with his head thrown back and his mouth wide open.

I enjoyed walking to the taxi stop near the mall, even though it was barely raining and the ground was nowhere near thoroughly wet, yet. It was also nice to ride in the taxi with the window down and enjoy the cool air rushing in.

I knew immediately that my taxi driver would be extraordinary, because he actually used his turn signal to indicate that he was pulling over to pick me up. Not only that, but he recognized my destination and offered me the choice of two routes to reach it. Wow! He asked me a few questions. Was I a teacher? Where am I from? (He guessed Australia. Surely, I speak better English than that. ;-)) I don’t usually have conversations with taxi drivers. Many have very limited English and then there is the cultural red tape attached to unaccompanied women. Most don’t initiate conversation and neither do I. (Not because I’m snobbish, but because I am a very private, introverted person who really doesn’t want to talk to strangers.) DaddyBird, on the other hand, with his “number one Muslim beard” gets into many a taxi driver conversation.

In other news, this Friday we will be traveling to Instanbul, Turkey. (Finally, after months of not traveling anywhere, we get to live a little “travel channel.”) We will be there for two weeks and will be blogging and sharing lots of pictures.

So, stay tuned.

Rainslicker

We were at Dubai Festival City shopping mall this week. These window displays amused me. A rainslicker is the last thing one needs here. When it rains, ain’t no slicker gonna help you or keep you dry.

Raining – Oh when will it flood!?!

Raining hard again. Paul is out there somewhere stuck in traffic and I am here waiting. There’s a rumor of a tornado in Fujairah, but just an unsubstantiated (rapidly spreading) rumor.

Rain in Dubai

Wednesday evening we had RAIN and it has been raining off and on since. It began with a spectacular lightning and thunder show. This first video is of the worst of the downpour that we were in. It involved large hail pelting the car. Watch for the guy who is riding a bicycle. By the end of the video the hail has stopped but the rain is coming down so thick that the wipers can’t possibly keep up and we are “rain blind.”
The next video is more of the same driving rain. Notice that everyone turns on their hazard lights, as if that makes it better. After every foggy day, there is an article in the newspaper telling people not to use their hazard lights while driving in fog. I’ll have to check and see if there is a similar article after this rain storm. The comment I make about maybe not going to work the next morning is because if this had kept up all night the flooding would have made it impossible to get anywhere. Notice that already there is significant puddles (less than 10 min. of rain).
This third video starts with one of the many rather spectacular puddles. Keep in mind this is within a few minutes of the start of the downpour.
Next morning, still raining, but not flooded, so we are off to work. If you compare these to the previous videos of our drive when it’s dry, you’ll see that the rain has little impact on people’s driving or pedestrian behavior. We saw a few guys who had put a plastic grocery bag on their head and tied it so that it was a sort of hat. At one point in this video I point the camera at the storm drain that is definitely not doing its job.

The next, and last, video is of the end of the drive to work. Watch for the construction workers who are perched on top of cement blocks in a puddle. They created their own stepping stones in an attempt to get across. The automatic focus of my stupid camera was focusing on the windshield, so everything outside of the car is blurry. It is not really that blurry in real life, even in the rain.