The United Arab Emirates sees over 14cm of rain in a day, about as much as it expects in a year-and-a-half, as rain floods motorways and homes, causes schools to stay shut and forces people to work from home as flights are affected. There are claims cloud seeding is responsible.
Record rainfalls in the United Arab Emirates and the wider Gulf region have flooded major roads and caused “carnage” at Dubai’s international airport.
More than 14cm (5.6 inches) of rain soaked Dubai on Tuesday, around as much as normally falls in a year-and-a-half at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel.
The heavy thunderstorms were “a historic weather event” that surpassed anything seen since records began in 1949, the state-run WAM news agency said.
Schools across the UAE, which largely shut ahead of the storm, remained closed on Wednesday and the government ordered staff to continue working from home.
At the airport, arrivals were paused on Tuesday night as standing water lapped on taxiways as aircraft landed, while passengers struggled to reach terminals through the floodwater covering surrounding roads.
At lunchtime on Wednesday, EgyptAir suspended flights between Cairo and Dubai until the weather in the UAE improved.
A couple, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in a country where critical comments can be punished by law, said it was “absolute carnage” at the airport.
The man said: “You cannot get a taxi. There’s people sleeping in the metro station. There’s people sleeping in the airport.”
On Wednesday morning, Dubai International Airport said on X the flooding had left “limited transportation options” and “recovery will take some time”.
Some forced to bail out homes
Flights were affected as aircraft crews could not reach the airfield and stations on the city’s driverless metro were flooded, as the waters caused disruptions.
Schools across the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, had been mostly shut ahead of the storm, with staff joining government employees in largely working from home.
Tanker trucks were sent out into the streets and larger roads to pump away the water as some people were forced to bail out flooded homes amid rising waters.
The country’s hereditary rulers offered no overall damage information or injury information for the nation, as some slept in their flooded vehicles on Tuesday night.