Driving rain. Driving in the rain.

Suddenly in the last 2 afternoons electrical storms have blown up quickly from what seems nowhere to become quite devastating. Yesterday’s storm involved strong winds whipping the sand along, making driving resemble driving in fog. This was later followed by the rain. The windscreen had sand setting on the side like concrete as the rain was short lived. Today on the drive home from school, on the Al Ain Dubai road, huge black clouds rolled in and then the rain started with the thunder directly over head. Within about 3 minutes we went from a few drops on the windscreen to hard out torrential rain. You could tell the rain was serious as everyone instantly drops their speed from 120 + to about 60 with their hazard lights blinking furiously. Cars were being buffeted across the road. Being prudent and not trusting Emirati drivers in the rain and strong winds I pulled over. As the rain died down to allow the wind screen wipers to cope once again, we then crawled along some more. All the road cones and plastic road barriers had been knocked over , were damaged or hurtlng into the lanes. The traffic wove in and out like a slalom course. In the city itself driving was problematic. Cars had rear ended others blocking roundabout exits, roads were flooded as the drains and curbing are filled with sand rendering them useless. Huge hail stones are bouncing like golf balls on a green. Hoardings have come crashing onto the road way. Within an hour the sun is out, the traffic is flowing again, splashing through the water, and the carnage of the trees, awnings and signage is very evident. An after effect of these storms is that the evening temperatures have plummeted to a respectable 34, making being out in the evening pleasurable.