We had an intense sand storm for about 3 hours at the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant site today - it seemed to come out of nowhere and ended as abruptly as it started. I had to go to a meeting at a building across the parking lot from where my office is, and it was difficult to see it clearly due to the amount of sand in the air - in a sand storm you plug your ears, squint your eyes, keep your mouth shut, and hold your breath as long as you can (hopefully until you get to the other building) - because if not, youll have sand in whatever orifice wasnt closed. Ive had scratchy eyes since then - some of the sand is very fine grained. The high winds were blowing from the inland desert towards the coast, and it brought the warmer desert air with it - temperatures were about 32-34 C on the site between 9:30 am and 5:30 pm, and was starting to drop a little as I was leaving work. There was a vehicle accident near the site during the storm - presumably due to poor visibility - a pick-up truck ran down a short but steep slope from the shoulder of the road, hit the flat sand at the bottom of the slope and rolled several times before coming to rest at the base of a water distribution pipeline embankment - the truck was totaled, but no information on the condition of the driver. The aftermath of the storm made for interesting driving conditions on the way back from work. There were stretches of the 4-lane highway where you couldnt see the asphalt due to the 6-18 of sand on the road - it was like driving off-road in those sections - very rough and not good wheeling. Also saw some camels grazing on the stunted vegetation near the road (they were behind the highway fencing). Due to the high volume of sand and dust in the air, the sun looked like a pale moon hanging in the sky. Finished off the day with a BBQ supper and a walk through the ADWEA compound with Maureen this evening - I had to shed the long sleeved shirt in favour a short sleeved tropical one - and there was a very nice breeze for walking. Just another day in Al Gharbia region of Abu Dhabi Emirate ...
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 17:13:36 +0000
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