Heavy rains have caused chaos in Dubai. Holidaymakers report “shocking” experiences. However, Oman is even worse affected.
Update from April 17th, 2:45 p.m.:
Numerous reports from those affected in the region on the Persian Gulf, which was hit by the violent storm, showed flooded streets and buildings. Germans who live or are on vacation in Dubai were also in the floods. Including former GNTM participant Fiona Erdmann. She reported on the situation in the emirate on Instagram.
“It’s absolute chaos here,” the 35-year-old begins one of the several stories on the social media platform. In her car she describes the situation on site. “I am really a big supporter of Dubai and what is being created here,” says Erdmann in a video, and continues: “But it is an absolute catastrophe, how bad the sewage system is.” Instead of a sewer system, there would only be holes in the ground .
EX-GNTM participant fights through the floods in Dubai
The model's video shows the first vehicles fighting their way through the flooded street. “Some of them are already sinking,” Erdmann comments on the scenes. Shortly afterwards, her car found itself deep in the water. It's also wet at the 35-year-old's destination. When she arrives at a large shopping center, it's raining through the roof there too.
On the way home, however, the situation worsens. She tried to make progress on the road for more than two and a half hours. “It just didn't work anymore, it started raining even worse,” she says in the video after finding refuge in an industrial area. “I don’t think I’ll be able to get out of here today,” says a recent story from Tuesday (April 16).
It wasn't until Wednesday afternoon that the model contacted her fan base again with a video message: “I've been living in Dubai for six and a half years and have experienced a lot of things. But I’ve never experienced what happened yesterday,” says the native of Saarbrücken.
After severe storms in Dubai: holidaymakers report uprooted palm trees and evacuation
Update from April 17th, 1:00 p.m.:
Dubai has probably survived the worst. On Wednesday (April 17th) the clouds cleared and the sun appeared again after heavy rain on Tuesday. However, locals and holidaymakers are still reporting on the violent storm, which hit the emirate completely unexpectedly to such an extent.
A Croatian holidaymaker told the dnevnik.hr
portal
about weather warnings that had been issued in advance. “We were advised not to take boat trips and not to book flights for Tuesday (April 16, dR),” said the man, who has been in Dubai with his wife and two children for a few days.
The hotel in which the family was staying was affected by the storm, palm trees were uprooted and the roof was damaged, says the man from Dubai. “During lunch we were evacuated from the restaurant to the lobby and our rooms,” he continued. Water even got into some rooms. The family described the experience as “shocking”.
Violent storms in Gulf states are causing devastation and causing deaths
First report from April 17th, 11:30 a.m.:
Unusual and shocking images from Dubai: More rain fell on the city than usual in a year. There were massive flash floods. Streets turned into rivers and the rushing water flooded homes and businesses.
Rainfall: Dubai airport completely submerged
A video shows the runway at Dubai International Airport - which was recently named the second largest airport in the world - under water. In the clip, planes try to navigate through the floodwaters. The jets looked more like ships than flying machines. There have also been severe storms in Bavaria recently.
Logical consequence: On Tuesday the airport temporarily stopped operations. “Operations continue to be significantly impacted,” the airport confirmed in a statement following the resumption. “There is severe flooding on the access roads around Dubai that lead to the airport.” Videos of widespread power outages are also circulating.
Ten centimeters of rain in twelve hours, streets in Dubai completely flooded
According to weather observations at the airport, nearly 10 centimeters of rain fell in just 12 hours on Tuesday - roughly what Dubai receives in a whole year, according to the United Nations. “I’ve never experienced that before,” said holidaymaker Vanessa to the Swiss medium
Blick
. “It's really raining and lightning. It has incredible flooding. The whole of Dubai is under water.”
Because the rain fell so hard and so quickly, some drivers had to abandon their vehicles. Video on social media showed water rushing through an area shopping center and flooding the ground floors of homes.
The rain hit the desert city completely unexpectedly. Dubai, like the rest of the United Arab Emirates, has a hot and dry climate. As a result, rainfall is rare and the infrastructure is not in place to deal with extreme events. There were also heavy, unexpected rains in Greece in September 2023.
18 dead in Oman – weather in Dubai is getting drier
Extreme weather events have become more common in recent decades, which experts have linked to man-made climate change. As the atmosphere continues to warm, it is able to absorb more moisture like a towel and then release it in the form of even heavier torrents of flooding rain.
The rain that submerged Dubai is linked to a larger storm system crossing the Arabian Peninsula and moving across the Gulf of Oman. The same system is also bringing unusually wet weather to nearby Oman and southeastern Iran. The heaviest rains are said to be over for Dubai. However, there may be a few showers on Wednesday before dry weather returns. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman are also affected by the rain chaos. According to government figures, 18 people died in Oman, including ten schoolchildren. Two others are missing.
(cgsc)