Dubai is under water. Heavy rains caused chaos. Oman is even worse affected; ten schoolchildren, among others, died here.
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)