Photo credit: Bloomberg
April 17, 2024
Heavy rains and hurricane-force winds hit the Gulf countries, causing flooding and transport disruptions. The disaster killed 20 people, most of them in Oman.
In the United Arab Emirates, the work of Dubai International Airport, the world’s largest in terms of passenger traffic, was paralyzed.
The airport’s aprons, taxiways and runways were flooded, causing hundreds of flights to be cancelled.
Passengers were advised to check the status of their flights and not travel unnecessarily to Terminal 1, which serves international flights.
“Due to the unprecedented weather in the UAE, flights at Dubai International Airport (DXB) continue to be delayed or cancelled. Dubai Airports advises passengers not to visit Terminal 1 unless they have received confirmation from their airline that their flight has departed,” the airport management company said in a statement.
A total of more than 270 flights to and from Dubai airport were canceled on Wednesday, and another 370 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware.
Management at the airport, which is a major connecting hub and serves flights to all continents, warned that restoring normal operations would take time.
Dubai-headquartered airline Emirates suspended check-in for its flights until Thursday, leaving its terminals crowded with passengers.
“We live in duty-free,” said the tourists who had already checked in and were stuck in the departure area.
Photo copyright: Reuters
photo caption: Dubai Airport turned into a large lake
The UAE received its highest rainfall in 75 years of records on Tuesday.
Authorities warned that more thunderstorms, heavy rain and gale-force winds were expected.
The UAE’s National Meteorological Center (NMC) reported that the fourth most populous city of Al Ain (Abu Dhabi) received 254.8 mm of rain in less than 24 hours.
The country averages 140-200mm of annual rainfall, but Dubai typically receives only 97mm. The monthly average for April is about 8 mm.
Images from the scene showed dozens of submerged cars on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai’s main thoroughfare, as well as traffic jams elsewhere.
29-year-old British tourist Caroline Sobert told the BBC that she and her husband went to the popular Dubai Mall on Tuesday, but were unable to get out because of the downpour.
“The shopping center was flooded, the ceilings were collapsing, and it closed at 7:30 p.m. We were told to leave, but the metro was closed and there were no taxis in the area. We found ourselves in a difficult situation and had to spend the night in the lobby of the shopping center,” she said.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in the UAE and I’ve been here since 2017,” said the 35-year-old Briton, who lives in Dubai. “The thunder and lightning was incredible, the noise—it’s something I’ll never forget.”
There were no reports of deaths in Dubai. In the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, an elderly man became a victim of the elements when his car was carried away by a flood of water.
Rescuers found the body of a dead girl in the Oman town of Sakhm on Wednesday, bringing the country’s death toll to 19 since Sunday.
Photo copyright: Reuters
Photo caption, Passengers at Emirates counters
photo copyrightAnadolu Agency
photo caption: Heavy rain in Oman’s capital Muscat
The UAE National Emergency Management Authority had earlier issued a warning urging local residents to stay home.
The government has also asked employees to work from home and private schools have been advised to switch to distance learning.
In Oman, more than a thousand people were evacuated to shelters. Schools and government offices were closed for security reasons.
The Sultanate’s Council of Ministers said it was saddened by the deaths and expressed condolences to the families of the victims.
Oman, like the UAE, generally receives little rainfall. Average annual precipitation ranges from 150 to 300 mm in the north of the country.
Immediately after the torrential rains began, some social media users incorrectly assumed that the extreme weather was related to the cloud seeding that UAE authorities have been doing for the past 10 years to induce rainfall.
However, experts say the procedure may have only a minor impact on the weather, and heavy rainfall in the region was predicted in advance.
“The UAE has a cloud seeding program to increase rainfall in this arid part of the world, but there is no technology that can create or influence that amount of rainfall,” Professor Maarten Ambaum from the University of Reading told the BBC.
Heavy rains have also hit Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in recent days.
Many factors contribute to such weather events, including warming caused by climate change, which makes extreme precipitation more likely.
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