Fujairah: After four days of forced closure, Seraj Abdullah was back behind the glass counter at his cafeteria ready to serve his usual menu of sandwiches and fruit juice.
Having completed the clean-up operation, repaired damaged electrical machines and brought in a fresh order of burgers and buns, Seraj's business was one of the lucky few to have made it back so quickly after the floods.
Although a visit by municipality officials never materialised, Seraj says: "We just got on with the job of getting everything back in order," a job which may have cost upwards of Dh15,000, he estimates.
Others are not as lucky with the cost of damage to their businesses. Bassam Hassan runs a decor contracting outlet and says his Dh70,000 colour-mixing machine is out of order due to the saline water.
Along with the damage to the rest of the shop, Bassam estimates it could take a small fortune to get the business back on its feet again. The strip of shops facing the seriously damaged Kalba Corniche Park was the hardest hit by sea water.
Residents who fled their houses are now almost all back in their homes with a few exceptions.
The house of Ebaid Rashid Khalfan still has no power as the technicians from the Water and Electricity Board told him they are still waiting for water to subside before they can fix electricity cables in his house.
Khalfan's house was one of the worst hit homes in Suhaliah. Most of his furniture was drenched in saline water and the lack of power in the house has turned it into an abandoned space after it was home to two families of 11 members.
He is one of four cases yet to be returned to their homes says Yasmin Sultan, the family liaison officer for the Red Crescent.
"Almost all families have now been helped back to their homes and we still offer them food and other essential items" said Yasmin.
"We still, however, have about four families who have been unable to return - for the lack of electricity mainly - and we're working on following up all lines to help them return to their homes" added Yasmin.
Elsewhere in Kalba, municipality workers are continuing an intensive round of maintenance to return some resemblance of normality to the disfigured face of Suhaliah.
