Latest News

Clean up starts after a minimum of one dead in heavy UAE rain, floods

Authorities and communities across the United Arab Emirates were clearing particles on Wednesday after at least one person passed away and homes and organizations were damaged in an unusual torrential storm.

The level of the damage was not right away clear as emergency situation employees looked for to drain flooded roads across the nation hours after heavy rain gone away late on Tuesday.

The UAE saw record rain with 254 mm (10 inches) falling in less than 24 hours in Al Ain, a city on the UAE-Oman border, according to the national meteorology center. That was one of the most since records began in 1949, before the UAE was formed in 1971.

The UAE lacks much of the needed drain facilities to deal with heavy rain. It is not uncommon for roads to become partly immersed undersea during extended periods of rain. It normally just ever rains a couple of times a year.

The UAE likewise often conducts cloud seeding operations to boost rainfall. A forecaster from the national meteorology center rejected any cloud seeding operations had occurred recently.

Bloomberg earlier priced estimate the agency as saying seven cloud seeding operations had happened in the days before the storm.

Climate scientists state that increasing international temperature levels, driven by manufactured climate modification, is causing more severe weather condition events, including intense rainfall like the UAE storm.

ROADS OBSTRUCTED, FLIGHTS INTERRUPTED

The impact of the heavy rain continued to be felt on Wednesday, with roadways blocked and flights significantly disrupted.

Emirates, among the world's most significant global airline companies, stopped checking-in passengers leaving Dubai till midnight. Flydubai, which partly resumed flights in the morning, said operations would not go back to typical till after midnight. On the other hand, budget plan carrier Air Arabia suspended check-in to flights to and from Sharjah until 2 a.m. on Thursday ( 2200 GMT Wednesday).

Kanish Kumar Deborah Barman, 39, stated he had actually been stuck at Dubai airport with his spouse given that around 4 a.m., when his flight landed late from Paris, missing his next flight to Calcutta, in India.

Individuals are simply lying around in the airport. There is not enough seats and chairs to, you understand, let them sit. They are sitting on the flooring, he informed on Wednesday afternoon, waiting to board the next available flight.

Dubai International Airport, among the world's busiest, said after the storm diminished that the heavy rain had caused significant disruptions, with flights postponed and diverted, and recommended travelers in Dubai versus taking a trip to the airport.

We are striving to recover operations as rapidly as possible in very challenging conditions, the airport wrote on X.

Some foreign airline companies canceled flights to Dubai.

The federal government of Dubai bought schools to continue mentor classes online on Thursday, as emergency situation employees cleared particles, including trees and terrace furnishings, from the streets.

VEHICLES SUBMERGED

Local media and social media posts showed significant damage across the nation, including collapsed roadways and flooded homes.

The official media offices for the federal government and Dubai and Abu Dhabi did not immediately react to an emailed inquiry on the scale or expense of the storm damage.

Regional media reported that a senior Emirati male in his 70s died on Tuesday early morning when his car was captured in flash floods in the Ras Al Khaimah emirate, in the nation's north.

In neighbouring Oman, 19 individuals passed away, consisting of school kids after three successive days of heavy rain, according to Omani media, which published images of flooded communities.

The Times of Oman reported that more rain was expected on Wednesday. In Dubai, the skies were clear and in some locations the roads were peaceful after the federal government bought its employees and all schools to work from another location for a 2nd successive day.

Social media posts on Tuesday showed flooded roads and cars and truck parks with some automobiles completely submerged. Sheikh Zayed Road, a 12-lane highway through Dubai, was partially flooded, leaving individuals stuck in a kilometres-long traffic congestion for hours.

(source: Reuters)