Dubai is wrestling with the aftermath of extraordinary torrential rains that flooded the desert city, with residents describing harrowing stories of spending the night in their cars, and air passengers enduring chaotic scenes at airports.
Dubai’s giant highways were blocked by flooding and its major airport was in a mess as the Middle East financial center remained gridlocked on Wednesday, a day after the heaviest rains on record.
Tailbacks snaked along waterlogged, six-lane expressways after up to 259.5 millimeters (10.2 inches) of rain, the most since records began 75 years ago, fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday. At least one person was killed, a 70-year-old man who was swept away in his car in Ras Al-Khaimah, one of the oil-rich country’s seven emirates, police said.
Up to 259.5mm (10.2in) of rain fell on the usually arid country of the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, the most since records began 75 years ago. The state-run WAM news agency called the rains on Tuesday “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949”.
As the sun returned on Wednesday, along with it came stories of residents stuck in cars and offices through an arduous night. “It was one of the most horrific situations I had ever experienced,” said one Dubai resident in his 30s, who did not want to give his name, after his 15-minute commute turned into a 12-hour ordeal on flooded roads.
Desert city of Dubai floods as heaviest rainfall in 75 years hits UAE
At Dubai’s airport, one of the most engaged for international travel, with nearly every flight repeatedly delayed, Emirates passengers were told to stay away “unless necessary”. Frustration from those already there began to build.
A large crowd assembled at a connections desk, clapping and whistling in protest as they waited for information. “They are completely lost, it’s complete chaos – no information, nothing,” fumed one passenger, who did not want to be named, after a 12-hour wait, Agence France-Presse reported.
Standing water lapped on taxiways as aircraft landed. One couple called the situation “absolute carnage”. They spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to speak freely in a country with strict laws that criminalize critical speech.
“You cannot get a taxi. People are sleeping in the Metro station. People are sleeping in the airport.” Schools will stay closed in Dubai until next week, authorities said, underscoring the difficulty of the clean-up.
In an unusually direct intervention, UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Nayan ordered “authorities to quickly work on studying the condition of infrastructure throughout the UAE and to limit the damage caused”, official media said.
The president also gave orders for affected families to be transferred to safe locations, according to a statement carried by the WAM news agency.
City records more than 142mm of rain in a day
about as much as it expects in a year and a half, as highways and malls flooded; Dubai’s ruler, sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, wrote on X about “efforts being made by teams of citizens and residents that continue day and night” as the city’s media office posted a video overlayed with dramatic music of officials conferring in groups and water pumping appearing to take place in the background. Photos too were posted of what it said showed water flooding into desert areas.
Despite the widespread impact, authorities have remained tight-lipped on the extent of the damage. The rains began on Monday night and by Tuesday evening more than 142mm (5.59in) had soaked the desert city of Dubai – normally the amount it gets in a year and a half. Heavy rain also fell in Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, where rescuers found the body of a girl in Saham, bringing the death toll in the country to 19 since Sunday.
Some blamed cloud seeding for Dubai’s flood
In an average year, there is 94.7mm (3.73in) of rain at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and a hub for the long-haul carrier Emirates. On Wednesday, it said it had experienced “significant disruption”.
EgyptAir suspended flights between Cairo and Dubai until the conditions improve. Paul Griffiths, the airport’s CEO, said the situation remained incredibly challenging. “In living memory, I don’t think anyone has ever seen conditions like it,” he told the state-owned talk radio station Dubai Eye. “We are in uncharted territory.”
Some media reports suggested the rains may have been made worse by cloud seeding, a common practice in the dry Emirates to encourage clouds to produce precipitation by releasing salt particles into the air, often using planes. The salt released in cloud-seeding operations helps water droplets to form, increasing the chance of rain.
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