They haven’t seen anything like this in Dubai for a long time. On Tuesday, a heavy downpour came over the city, leading to numerous floods. Under water there were, among others: international airport and numerous streets in the center.
Flood in Dubai /ALI HAIDER /PAP/EPA
Shocking footage from Dubai. Its international airport, recently named the second busiest in the world, was completely underwater.
The view is surreal – huge passenger planes look more like boats sailing on the rough surface of the sea.
Due to flooded runways, the airport suspended operations for almost half an hour. “Work continues to be disrupted,” the airport authorities said in a statement.
“There was severe flooding on access roads around Dubai that lead to the airport,” it added.
The weather station located at the airport showed that almost 100 mm of rain fell in just 12 hours. This is approximately as much as it rains in Dubai during… the whole year.
It wasn’t just the international airport that was flooded. The city center was also under water, where the roads turned into raging rivers.
One of the videos shared on social media shows a car – pushed by the force of water – falling into a hole near one of the construction sites.
In general, drivers had a huge problem because many cars were flooded up to half their height. CNN writes that some drivers abandoned their vehicles because they did not want to get trapped in them.
It was also flooded, among others. one of the shopping malls and the metro station.
Dubai experienced not only heavy rain, but also strong winds and lightning. One of the lightning bolts hit the spire of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
Dubai – as in other parts of the United Arab Emirates – has a dry and hot climate. For this reason, rainfall is rare there, and when it does occur, especially such extreme rainfall, the sewage system is unable to cope with it.
It is important to realize that as the climate changes, these types of downpours will become more frequent. The principle is simple – as the atmosphere warms, it absorbs more moisture and then “dumps” it in the form of more intense rainfall.
The downpour that hit Dubai on Tuesday is part of a larger pattern that has hit the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. At least 18 people have already been killed due to flooding in neighboring Oman, and several more have been reported missing. Flooding also occurred in southeastern Iran.
However, the forecast for Dubai is optimistic. The rain will weaken on Tuesday evening, and light rain is expected on Wednesday. Then the dry and sunny weather will return.
Source: RMF24