Heavy rains lash Dubai and disrupt flights, toll rises in Oman
April 17, 2024 — 8.24am
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Parts of the United Arab Emirates received 2½ times the average annual rainfall in 24 hours, flooding out portions of major highways and leaving vehicles abandoned on roadways across Dubai.
Meanwhile, the death toll in separate heavy flooding in neighbouring Oman rose to 18 with others still missing as the sultanate prepared for the storm.
The rains began overnight, leaving massive ponds on streets as whipping winds disrupted flights at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and the home of the long-haul carrier Emirates.
By the evening, more than 120 millimetres of rainfall had soaked the city-state – the typical average for a year in the desert nation. Parts of Al-Ain, a region 120 kilometres south of Dubai, received more than 250 millimetres.
Police and emergency personnel drove slowly through the flooded streets, their emergency lights flashing across the darkened morning. Lightning flashed across the sky, occasionally touching the tip of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
Schools across the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, largely shut ahead of the storm and government employees were largely working remotely if able.
Many workers stayed home as well, though some ventured out, with the unfortunate stalling out their vehicles in deeper-than-expected water covering some roads.
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.
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.
Rain also fell in Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
In neighbouring Oman, a sultanate that rests on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, at least 18 people had been killed in heavy rains in recent days, according to a statement on Tuesday from the country’s National Committee for Emergency Management.
That includes some 10 schoolchildren swept away in a vehicle with an adult, which saw condolences come into the country from rulers across the region.
Vehicles drive through heavy rain on the Sheikh Zayed Road highway in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.Credit: AP
The UAE state news agency WAM reported that air carrier Flydubai said it temporally suspended all of its flights departing from Dubai until Wednesday morning due to the weather.
“All flydubai flights scheduled for departure from Dubai this evening (16 April) have been cancelled effective immediately until 10am (Dubai local time) on 17 April. During this period, passengers who do not have Dubai as their final destination will not be accepted for travel,” a flyDubai spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Dubai International Airport (DXB) had been temporarily diverting arriving flights on Tuesday evening until weather conditions improve, while keeping the departures operational.
The website for Dubai airport, one of the world’s busiest, shows dozens of flights on April 16 delayed or cancelled, with affected destinations including India, Pakistan, Saudi and the United Kingdom.
AP, Reuters
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