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Authorities issue advisory warning on how to drive on wet roads

The equivalent of 90 per cent of the average yearly rain fell on the region on Saturday. Bad weather and flooding made life miserable to motorists accustomed to other weather conditions.

Doha (AsiaNews) – The Traffic Department in Doha (Qatar) issued an advisory warning after exceptional rains fell on Saturday in the region, especially in Qatar and Bahrain, causing a series of car accidents.

The warning provides motorists a number of tips on driving safely in rain. Picked up by local media, the advisory is designed to inform local drivers, not used to such extreme weather conditions, about appropriate steps to take on wet roads, especially in case of hydroplaning when water on the road causes a car to lose traction, an especially frightening prospect when turning. In its advisory the Traffic Department also provided detailed information on how to maintain tires, breaks and windshield wipers, normally used to remove wind-blown sand.

With so many cars stuck on roads, tow trucks companies were out in force, inundated with calls, many just driving out looking for stranded motorists and cash windfall.

On Saturday 68 millimetres fell on Bahrain, about 90 per cent of the average rain fall the country receives every year.

Roads not designed to handle that much water were soon clogged for lack of a proper a drainage system that could absorb that much water and muck.

Several municipal Councils are sending a letter to the Royal Court asking for authorisation to provide temporary shelter to families forced out of their homes from the heavy downpour and to plan for a drainage system in the kingdom.