Dubai floods: Record-breaking rain closes airport and swamps ...

The National, an English-language, state-linked newspaper in Abu Dhabi, quoted an anonymous official at the centre on Wednesday as saying no cloud seeding took place on Tuesday, without acknowledging any earlier flights.

The centre did not respond to questions Wednesday from the AP.

An SUV passes through standing water in Dubai. AP

‘You don’t need cloud seeding’s influence’

The UAE, which heavily relies on energy-hungry desalination plants to provide water, conducts cloud seeding in part to increase its dwindling, limited groundwater.

Jeff Masters, a meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections, said the flooding in Dubai was caused by an unusually strong low pressure system that drove many rounds of heavy thunderstorms.

“You don’t need cloud seeding’s influence to account for the record deluge in Dubai,” Masters said.

Scientists also say climate change in general is responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme storms, droughts, floods and wildfires around the world. Dubai hosted the United Nations’ COP28 climate talks just last year. Rising temperatures and other effects of global warming long have been viewed as a threat to life in the already-baking region.

The rains began late on Monday, soaking the sands and roadways of Dubai with about 20 millimetres of rain, according to meteorological data collected at Dubai International Airport. The storms intensified about 9am local time on Tuesday and continued throughout the day, dumping more rain and hail onto the overwhelmed city.

Two men walk through floodwater in Dubai. AP

‘Absolute carnage’ at airport

By the end of Tuesday, more than 142 millimetres of rainfall had soaked Dubai over 24 hours. An average year brings 94.7 millimetres of rain at Dubai International Airport, a hub for long-haul carrier Emirates.

At the airport, standing water lapped on taxiways as aircraft landed. Arrivals were halted on Tuesday night, and passengers struggled to reach terminals through the floodwater covering surrounding roads.

One couple, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to speak freely in a country with strict laws that criminalise critical speech, called the situation at the airport “absolute carnage”.

“You cannot get a taxi,” the man said on Wednesday. “There’s people sleeping in the Metro station. There’s people sleeping in the airport.”

They ended up getting a taxi to near their home about 30 kilometres away, but floodwater on the road stopped them. A bystander helped them over a highway barrier with their carry-on luggage, the bottles of gin they picked up from duty-free clinking away.

‘Recovery will take some time’

Dubai International Airport acknowledged on Wednesday morning that the flooding had left “limited transportation options” and affected flights as aircraft crews couldn’t reach the airfield.

“Recovery will take some time,” the airport said on social platform X.

People look out at floodwater covering a major road in Dubai. AP

Emirates said the airline had halted check-in for passengers departing from Dubai itself from 8am until midnight on Wednesday as it tried to clear the airport of transit passengers – many of whom had been sleeping where they could in its cavernous terminals. Passengers on FlyDubai, Emirates’ low-cost sister airline, also faced disruptions.

Paul Griffiths, the airport’s CEO, acknowledged continued issues with flooding on Wednesday morning, saying every place an aircraft could be safely parked was taken. Some aircraft had been diverted to Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, the city-state’s second airfield.

‘We are in uncharted territory’

“It remains an incredibly challenging time. In living memory, I don’t think anyone has ever seen conditions like it,” Mr Griffiths told state-owned talk radio station Dubai Eye. “We are in uncharted territory, but I can assure everyone we are working as hard as we possibly can to make sure our customers and staff are looked after.”

Egypt’s national carrier, EgyptAir, also temporarily suspended flights between Cairo and Dubai due to the bad weather.

A man sits in a semitruck stuck in floodwater in Dubai. AP

Schools across the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, largely shut before the storm and government employees were largely working remotely, if able. Many workers stayed at home as well, though some ventured out, with the unfortunate stalling out their vehicles in deeper-than-expected water covering spots on some roads. That included parts of the Sheikh Zayed Road, a 12-lane highway through downtown Dubai.

Authorities sent tanker trucks out into the streets and highways to pump away the water. Water poured into some homes, forcing people to bail out their houses.

The country’s hereditary rulers offered no overall damage or injury information for the nation, as some slept in their flooded vehicles on Tuesday night.

In Ras al-Khaimah, the country’s northernmost emirate, police said one 70-year-old man died when his vehicle was swept away by floodwater.

19 people killed in Oman

Khatm al-Shakla, an area near Al Ain in Abu Dhabi, had 254 millimetres of rain on Tuesday, the most anywhere in the country, officials said.

Authorities cancelled school and the government instituted remote work again for Wednesday. Dubai later closed schools for the rest of the week.

Rain is unusual in the UAE, an arid, Arabian Peninsula nation, but occurs periodically during the cooler winter months. Many roads and other areas lack drainage given the lack of regular rainfall, causing flooding.

In neighbouring Oman, a sultanate that rests on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, at least 19 people were killed in heavy rains in recent days, according to a statement on Wednesday from the country’s National Committee for Emergency Management. That included about 10 schoolchildren swept away in a vehicle with an adult, which brought condolences from rulers across the region.

AP