It rains in Dubai maybe a handful of days a year. That’s exactly the problem.
In other countries, rain is background noise. Drivers know how their cars behave on wet tarmac, roads are built to shed water, and nobody stops to film a puddle. Here, rain is an event. The roads aren’t used to it, a lot of drivers aren’t either, and the city’s drainage was designed for a climate where serious downpours are rare. When one does arrive, it can turn an underpass into a lake in less than an hour.
Most of our clients will never see it. But between November and March, and sometimes during summer storms over the mountains, it happens. Here’s what you need to know if it happens on your trip.
The first twenty minutes are the worst
This surprises people. Light rain after a long dry spell is more dangerous than heavy rain.
Months of oil, rubber dust and fine sand build up on the road surface. The first rain doesn’t wash it away, it mixes with it and turns into a thin, greasy film. Braking distances grow, tyres lose grip on roundabouts, and cars that were perfectly planted yesterday start to slide at ordinary speeds.
As soon as the first drops hit the windshield, immediately reduce your speed, double your following distance, and brake earlier and more gently than might seem necessary. Navigate roundabouts and highway exits slowly, these are the spots where skidding on wet roads occurs most frequently.
Where the water collects
Dubai floods in predictable places, and it helps to know them in advance.
Underpasses and tunnels. The lowest points in the road network fill first. If you see water pooling at the entrance of an underpass, don’t go in. There’s no way to judge the depth from the driver’s seat, and the far end may be deeper than the near one.
Service roads and residential streets. Water drains quite well from major thoroughfares. On secondary roads and in older neighborhoods, however, this is not always the case, and water can pool there for hours after the rain has stopped.
The slow lane. Water runs to the edge of the road, so the right-hand lane on a motorway is often the one with standing water. Hitting a pool at speed in that lane is the classic way to aquaplane.
Aquaplaning: what it feels like and what to do
If the steering suddenly feels light and the engine RPM rises without the car gaining speed, it means your tires are sliding on water rather than the road surface.
Do not brake sharply or make sudden steering movements. Lift your foot off the accelerator, keep the steering wheel straight, and let the car slow down until the tires regain traction with the asphalt.
If the water rises around you
A few rules that matter more than anything else in this article.
Never drive into water when you can’t see the road markings under it. Thirty centimetres of moving water is enough to push a car sideways. Modern cars also draw air low down, and if the engine sucks in water, it’s destroyed in an instant.
If the engine stalls in water, do not try to restart it. This is the instinct everyone has and the one that turns a repairable car into a write-off. Leave the car, get to higher ground, and call for help.
If you’re stuck and water is rising, get out. The car can be replaced. Unfasten your seatbelt, open the door or window while it is still possible, and move away from the flow of traffic.
Stay away from wadis and dams
When it rains in the mountains – in the areas of Hatta, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, and Khor Fakkan – dry riverbeds (wadis) fill with water in a matter of minutes, often fed by rainfall that occurred out of sight. Every year, people come here to witness this spectacle or to cross the riverbeds, and every year, some of them do not return.
The UAE treats this seriously, and the fines show it. Entering a valley while water is flowing costs AED 2,000, 23 black points and 60 days of vehicle impoundment. Just gathering near valleys, dams or flood channels to watch the rain is AED 1,000 and six black points.
When a rental car is involved, having it impounded is a particularly painful situation. The vehicle is taken out of service for two months, and under the terms of most rental agreements, the driver responsible for the incident must bear all associated costs. This is one of the costliest mistakes one can make – yet also one of the easiest to avoid.
Other rain-time fines worth knowing
Filming while driving. Rain in Dubai is photogenic, and everyone wants a video. Taking photos or videos of rain or fog while driving carries an AED 800 fine and four black points. If you want the shot, let the passenger take it.
Ignoring the lowered limits. In bad weather, police reduce limits via the electronic signs on the overhead gantries. The cameras follow those numbers, not the ones on the roadside posts.
Hazard lights on the move. Just like in fog, driving with hazards on is illegal and confuses the drivers behind you. Use them only when the car is stationary.
The rental-car side of it
Check the car before you leave, even when it’s clear. Wipers that have spent a summer baking in the sun can smear rather than clear. If they leave streaks the first time you use them, tell us and we’ll replace them.
Water damage and insurance. Standard insurance covers a lot, but damage from deliberately driving into floodwater is often treated differently from an ordinary accident. Know what your agreement says before you’re tempted to test a flooded road.
Fines follow the plate. Any ticket from a rainy day reaches the rental company and then reaches you, the same as any other fine.
Plans can wait. The best rain strategy here is often just patience. Storms in the UAE usually pass within hours, and roads start draining soon after. If the forecast shows heavy rain, a morning in the mall and a drive in the afternoon is a perfectly good plan.
Check the forecast
The National Centre of Meteorology issues yellow, orange and red alerts, and police post road updates on their official channels. Before a long drive in winter – to the mountains or the east coast in particular – check both. An orange alert is a good reason to postpone a trip to Hatta.
Rain in Dubai is rare enough to be a novelty and, handled calmly, it’s nothing to fear. Slow down early, stay out of water you can’t see through, keep away from the wadis, and let the storm pass.
Caught in bad weather and unsure whether to keep driving? Drop us a message on WhatsApp or call – we’re available around the clock and happy to help.
