Dubai International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world. Most flights were canceled or delayed by Wednesday morning. For example, Emirates flight EK146 from Schiphol to Dubai departs with a three-hour delay, and EK148 has been postponed from 3:20 PM to 9:00 PM.
The United Arab Emirates recorded 254 millimeters of rain in less than 24 hours on Tuesday, according to the national meteorological center. That is the most since measurements began in 1949. Many cars are stranded on flooded roads, and some buildings are without power.
‘Cloud seeding’
The severe weather in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has caused one death so far, may be the result of artificially generated rain. The National Center of Meteorology (NCM), the country’s meteorological agency, confirmed that planes took off on Monday and Tuesday to influence the weather.
At least seven cloud seeding planes took off from Al Ain airport between Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon to release chemicals into the atmosphere to promote precipitation. They were able to take advantage of the cumulus clouds that were passing by at that moment.
The UAE started cloud seeding in 2002 to tackle heat and drought, but the lack of good drainage in many areas can cause flooding. According to Ahmed Habib, an NCM meteorologist who spoke to Bloomberg news agency, the rain is partly due to technology.
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