.-') _ .-') _
( OO ) ) ( OO ) )
.-----. ,--./ ,--,' ,--./ ,--,'
' .--./ | \ | |\ | \ | |\
| |('-. | \| | )| \| | )
/_) |OO )| . |/ | . |/
|| |`-'| | |\ | | |\ |
(_' '--'\ | | \ | | | \ |
`-----' `--' `--' `--' `--'
lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Chaos in Dubai as UAE records heaviest rainfall in 75 years
By Nadeen Ebrahim, Mary Gilbert and Brandon Miller, CNN
Updated:
5:47 AM EDT, Thu April 18, 2024
Source: CNN
Chaos ensued in the United Arab Emirates after the country witnessed
the heaviest rainfall in 75 years, with some areas recording more than
250 mm (around 10 inches) of precipitation in fewer than 24 hours, the
state’s media office said in .
The rainfall, which flooded streets, uprooted palm trees and shattered
building facades, has never been seen in the Middle Eastern nation
since . In the popular tourist destination Dubai, flights were
canceled, traffic came to a halt and schools closed.
One-hundred millimeters (nearly 4 inches) of rain fell over the course
of just 12 hours on Tuesday, according to weather observations at the
airport – around what Dubai usually , according to United Nations
data.
The rain fell so heavily and so quickly that some motorists were forced
to abandon their vehicles as the floodwater rose and roads turned into
rivers.
Extreme rainfall events like this are becoming more common as the
atmosphere warms due . A warmer atmosphere is able to like a towel
and then ring it out in the form of flooding rainfall.
The weather conditions were associated with a larger storm system
traversing the Arabian Peninsula and moving across the Gulf of Oman.
This same system is also bringing unusually wet weather to and
southeastern Iran.
In Oman, at least 18 were killed in flash floods triggered by heavy
rain, the country’s National Committee for Emergency Management .
Casualties according to Oman’s state news agency.
A 70-year-old man died after flooding swept away his vehicle in the
UAE’s Ras Al-Khaimah, a police statement said on Tuesday.
The rainfall continued to shift east Wednesday, impacting parts of
southern Iran and Pakistan, areas that see little rainfall this time of
year. Iran’s southernmost city of Chabahar, in the Sistan and
Baluchestan province, recorded 130 mm of rain.
People attempting to travel by road into the center of Dubai on
Wednesday were trapped on the city’s highway.
“The scary part is that there was nowhere you can go,” said Sofie,
a Dubai resident who declined to provide a last name. Sofie ended up
stranded outside her home for nearly 12 hours, some of which were spent
sleeping in her car as surrounding roads remained submerged.
Some taxi drivers refused to take the commuters any further due to the
blocked roads, rendering them stuck on the main artery in Dubai.
Commuters were seen walking across the road through giant puddles,
trying to find alternative methods of transportation. Some of those
stuck had travelled from abroad to Dubai to attend the World Blockchain
Summit, a crypto conference scheduled for early next week.
Airport operations disrupted
Shocking video showed the tarmac of Dubai International Airport –
recently crowned the – underwater as . Large jets looked more
like boats moving through the flooded airport as water sprayed in their
wake and waves rippled through the deep water.
Disruption to airport operations continued into Wednesday, after the
storm had cleared, with access roads blocked by flooding and multiple
airlines including flag carrier Emirates reporting flight delays.
Budget airline Flydubai all flights until 10 a.m. local time Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning, Dubai International advised people to “ to come
to the airport, unless absolutely necessary,” saying flights continue
to be delayed and diverted.
Emirates suspended check-in for passengers departing Dubai from 8 a.m.
local time on Wednesday until midnight on Thursday due to
“operational challengers caused by bad weather and road
conditions.”
Some flew through the UAE’s airports last year, traveling through
Dubai International Airport alone. The UAE is home to approximately 10
million people. The UAE is a hub for five airlines.
Video shared on social media showed furniture flying off balconies. In
the Dubai Marina, a manmade canal lined with skyscrapers and retail
outlets, furniture from nearby restaurants could be seen washed away by
strong currents.
Images published in local media showed traffic gridlocked on Dubai’s
Sheikh Zayed Road, a 16-lane thoroughfare. Luxury cars were seen almost
entirely submerged in the Business Bay district that is home to
apartment buildings, offices and retail outlets. A Dubai Metro station
was flooded with commuters having to wade through ankle-deep water.
Delivery services stopped functioning and many Dubai residents were
unable to leave their homes due to waterlogged streets, which cars and
pedestrians couldn’t access. Some residents were seen rowing canoes
outside their homes, and one viral video on social media showed
residents wake boarding on a flooded street in a residential area.
Other videos from social media showed water rushing through a major
shopping mall and inundating the ground floor of homes.
Madiha Khawaja, a tourist visiting from London with her husband and two
children, aged two and four, said she felt “helpless” trying to
calm her children amid the chaos.
The rain had disrupted building lifts, including in some of Dubai’s
tallest skyscrapers. Khawaja said she spent 45 minutes taking the
stairs to her 27th floor apartment in the heart of Dubai to find rest
and shelter for her toddlers.
The journey was “grueling,” she said, adding that “upon reaching
our apartment with hungry and tired kids, we were met with dry taps, no
drinking water, no telephone service, no WiFi connection.”
“The kids were hungry, and I as a mother was getting very anxious and
upset,” she told CNN.
An official at the UAE’s National Center of Meteorology was cited by
local newspaper The National as saying that the rain was not caused by
, putting to rest rumors that the chaos was man-made. CNN has reached
out to the center for comment.
The practice is meant to enhance rainfall in arid or semi-arid regions
and entails the “seeding” of existing clouds with substances that
eventually help the clouds induce rain. The UAE has been and has been
doing it regularly over the past few years.
Like the rest of the Persian Gulf region, Dubai has a hot and dry
climate. As such, rainfall is infrequent, and the city’s
infrastructure often fails to handle extreme weather events.
DIR <- back to index