Severe storms have hit the United Arab Emirates, flooding major highways and disrupting operations at Dubai International Airport. According to the government, the country has not experienced this much rain in 75 years.
As a result of the heavy rains, half of Dubai was under water / Photo: AFP
The rains started on Monday night, and by late Tuesday afternoon, more than 142 millimeters of rain fell in Dubai, which is the average amount that falls in the desert city in a year and a half.
A According to CNBC a man was killed when his car was swept away by floods in Ras al-Khaimah, one of the country’s seven emirates, and dozens of people are listed as missing.
It flooded houses across Dubai, swept cars off the roads and inundated metro stations in a deluge for which the infrastructure of the country on the arid Arabian Peninsula was completely unprepared. Authorities are using tankers to try to pump water out of flooded areas after sewer systems are completely full.
The heavy rain also caused traffic jams at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest air port, and the lower levels of the runways and terminals were also flooded. Due to the storm combined with precipitation, lightning could be experienced throughout the country throughout the day, several of which struck the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
We urge everyone to take all precautions and stay away from areas affected by flooding and waterlogging until this exceptional disaster passes
– announced the government of the emirates X-in. Schools and other public institutions were ordered closed, and other companies were asked to allow their employees to work remotely.
The storm that caused the historic rain also caused floods in neighboring Bahrain and Oman, which is located at the end of the peninsula, in the case of the latter, where the authorities reported 18 deaths.
Both Oman and the United Arab Emirates, which hosted the UN Cop28 climate summit last year, have previously warned that global warming is likely to lead to similar floods worldwide.
