The incident happened when water-logged elevators have thrown life out of gear in an upscale 40-storey tower at the Jumeirah Beach Residence, Dubai.

As a result, for the past week residents have been forced to use the stairs. In fact, some high-rise dwellers are considering checking into hotels, even moving out.

Moreover, residents of Rimal 2 claimed their extreme unhappiness started last weekend when water from an overhead tank gushed down the shafts of the building’s three elevators and that  a water leak affected lifts within Rimal 2 on March 2.

Taziz, the appointed community manager for JBR addressed immediately the source of the water leak.

What the residents say?

Out of the three lifts, one lift remained operational at all times while the second lift was restored to normal operating conditions within a few days of the leak and the third lift is currently under repair and is expected to be operational shortly and that all repairs are addressed through the building insurer and helped forward by Taziz.

Quiet sadly, a visitor to a 34th floor flat said she waited 40 minutes before she could get into an elevator on Monday evening.

Residents said more than the wait time during such temporary shutdowns, they were concerned about the long-term safety of the elevators and the health hazards they face while climbing the stairs.

Shockingly, Catherine Andrews, who uses the stairs all the way up to her 23rd floor apartment says that she feels horror to take the elevators and declared that the flooding has occurred three to four times in over a year and that she is moving out of the tower this week.

She added, the last time there was water-logging, and she put up a 76-year-old family member in a hotel as he couldn’t take the stairs. In fact, someone can potentially die either due to a heart attack climbing stairs or the dangers of flooding in the lifts.

To say more, water and electricity just don’t go together, said a 10th floor tenant, who is also considering moving out and this has happened twice in the last six months and he don’t feel safe taking the elevators. While she said she hadn’t ventured out too often in the last few days and had put off buying groceries for fear of carrying them up the stairs.

Fact fully, the few trips she made up and down have already taken a toll on her hips.

According to a tenant on the 28th floor it’s extremely bad while expressing that this is not the first time it’s happening during the stay for three years and there have been instances when they had to stay in a hotel and therefore the lease in June will not be renewed.

According to a spokesperson of The Dubai Properties Group, the cause of flooding is being investigated while an extensive communication and education programme has been undertaken over the past 18 months, which educates residents on the importance of maintenance, recommendations on what to do inside an apartment and the necessity of contents and third party insurance within an apartment while she said that regular preventive maintenance should be conducted by residents within individual apartments and insurance maintained. If there is an unfortunate incident of this nature, there is a clear reactive strategy to ensure minimal inconvenience to the residents and that full operational service will be reestablished as quickly as possible.

It is undoubtedly a moment of unhappiness for the residents at Jumeirah Beach Residence. Therefore, the authorized person should take care of it and raise up their spirit once again!

(AW:Samrat Biswas)