Dubai's Record Rainfall Forces Flight Diversions and Floods City ...
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More VideoVerity Ratcliffe and Kateryna Kadabashy, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- Flights into Dubai were diverted and cars were left stranded on flooded roads after record rainfall over the past day brought the city to a standstill.
The United Arab Emirates experienced its heaviest downpour since records began in 1949, Dubai’s media office said in a statement. It caused chaos for residents as water entered homes and underground car parks, left some buildings without power and resulted in widespread flooding even a day later.
One person died after being swept away by flash floods in the north of the country, the National newspaper reported. In neighboring Oman, at least 18 people have died in recent days as the heavy rains caused flooding, AP reported, citing a statement from the country’s National Committee for Emergency Management.
Dubai airport, one of the world’s busiest, is suffering from “significant disruption,” it said Wednesday on X. Online departure boards showed most arrivals or departures as canceled or delayed as of 8 a.m. local time.
The heavy rains across the desert nation stemmed partly from cloud seeding, according to Ahmed Habib, a specialist meteorologist. The UAE started cloud seeding operations in 2002 to address water security issues, but the lack of drainage in many areas can trigger flooding.
The Gulf state’s National Center of Meteorology dispatched at least seven seeding planes from Al Ain airport between Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon to take advantage of convective cloud formations, Habib said. That technique involves implanting chemicals and tiny particles — often natural salts such as potassium chloride — into the atmosphere to coax more rain from clouds.
With global warming threatening a surge in heat-related deaths in the UAE, Dubai’s media office on Tuesday dubbed the downpours “rains of goodness,” despite the flooded houses and overflowing swimming pools.
The latest storms followed heavy rains earlier this year that had also caused flooding and traffic snarls. Dubai’s government told its employees to work from home again on Wednesday due to the weather conditions and urged private employers to do the same. Schools have been directed to remain closed.
People took to social media to share updates on the aftermath of the weather. Some videos showed cars being swept off roads, while another showed the ceiling of a shop collapsing as water inundated one of Dubai’s most popular malls. The city’s metro remained disrupted Wednesday morning.
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