Mother of all floods

Credit: DohaNews website

Raindrop keep falling on my head!

Residents in Qatar woke up to mass flooding across Doha on 25 November 2015. Qatar saw rain in one night what it typically received over one whole year. Although it was light rain over 4 hours, it was enough to put the country into a flooded gridlock.

Roads all over Doha were flooded and traffic came to a standstill. Schools closed and messaged parents to collect their children from school. There were reports of leakages and flooding in homes, petrol stations, road tunnels, schools, shopping malls, hotels and even the brand new Hamad International Airport.

Regular life came to a standstill. Everyone was affected. People could not go to work, students did not make it in time for examinations, parents were torn between going to work and rushing to pick up their kids, hotels lost their 5-star reputation with water leaking into guest rooms, swanky new condominiums had to put up with water rushing down their elevators in social media and worst of all, news of the brand new US$14 billion airport with leaking roof and wet floors were reported across international newspapers.

The after effect of the flood lingered for a few days. Roads remained muddy. Abandoned cars dotted the city. Some basement car parks remained water-logged.

Credit goes to the civil authorities as Police were out on the road full force to direct traffic, civil contractors with water pumps were out pumping water away and essential services such as hospitals and ambulance services were operating despite being affected by the flood as well.

Questions were immediately asked across social media, newspapers and coffee shops; what if the rain was more persistent? Of if rain occur again immediately before the roads were cleared? What if this happened during the Fifa World Cup in 2022 since the tournament has been shifted to the rainy December period as it is too hot for the Summer season?

Many questions. But at this point, no one has an answer.

Accomodation in Qatar

Most rich Qataris, CEOs and diplomats live in palatial villas. Professional expatriates tend to live in apartments or duplex houses in gated residential compounds. Most skilled or technician level workers live in shared apartments in low-rise apartment blocks. Blue-collar workers are normally housed in cramp dormitories.

Regardless of residential type, most of them do not come with facilities or amenities. You need to drive a certain distance to the malls just to buy a packet of milk or get a cup of coffee.

The high-rise or skyscrapers you see in photos are mostly located in West Bay, which is the new downtown area of Doha. There are some condominiums and serviced apartments in that area and more and more expatriates are choosing to live there because modern facilities such as shopping malls, cinemas, restaurants, laundries, swimming pools are within easy walking distance.

Otherwise, if you are not lucky enough to live in that area, you will either:

1. Be able to afford a car so that you can go buy a packet of milk
2. Stay at home after work and forget about ever drinking milk
3. Keep a cow at home

Typical low-rise residential apartment in a gated compound.
Note the ever brown, beige, white and gray color theme

First impressions - 2

Everything is white, beige, gray or brown. Well, almost everything - buildings, malls, walkways, cars, and signboards.

There are of course dashes of other bright colors - but the overwhelming color tone of Doha, Qatar seems to be white, brown and beige. Even the colors of vehicles on the road are overwhelmingly white, black, brown and gray.

Most people of Arabian origin seems to dress in white, black, beige or brown too. It is rare to see a red, blue, yellow or green building, car or person dressed in bright clothes.

See what I mean?
Haagen Dazs Ice-cream Palor decked out in white, gray, brown and beige.

First impressions - 1

This is obviously a modern and rapidly growing country. Qatar airways is new, modern and service-oriented. Construction is going on everywhere in Doha. Everything looks relatively new - roads, cars, buildings, malls, hotels...even people.

The roads, buildings, cars and even trees look new

Doha, Qatar

I landed in Doha, Qatar on 2nd January 2009 to start a new career. For those who are not familiar with Qatar, here is a video from the Qatar Tourism Board that will give you a quick overview of Qatar. Enjoy!