Dubai, United Arab Emirates
An unexpected weather event occurred in Dubai on the evening of Monday, April 15, 2024. This caused heavy flooding and disrupted daily activities.
According to the reports from the state-run WAM news agency, the rainfall broke records back to 1949.
This has been described as the largest amount of rainfall in the past 75 years.
Unprecedented Rainfall
The heavy rainfall which led to flooding started on Monday evening.
The storms intensified at about 9 am (5:00 GMT) on Tuesday, leading to 5.59 inches of rainfall in just 24 hours.
This amount of rainfall is what the city gets in a whole year.
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| A Flooded street during heavy rain in Dubai. |
Impact on Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport, which is one of the busiest airports in the world, was hit hard by the flood.
The runways and paths for planes were covered in water.
This caused flights to be delayed or canceled. People had a tough time getting to the airport because the roads were flooded.
The airport had to stop working for about 25 minutes on Tuesday afternoon.
On Wednesday morning, people still couldn’t check in for their flights, and the airport was slowly starting to work again, but it was still difficult.
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| Passengers waiting for their flights at Dubai International Airport. |
Government Response
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai International Airport, admitted that the situation was very bad.
He pointed out that the weather was unusually severe.
The government's National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority issued warnings, urging residents to be safe and stay indoors.
Cloud Seeding Controversy
The National Center of Meteorology, a Government taskforce responsible for cloud seeding missions in the United Arab Emirates, denied conducting cloud seeding operations before or during the storm.
Cloud seeding is a technique aimed at enhancing rainfall, to address water shortage. NCM said that the heavy rainfall is due to natural causes.
Ongoing Challenges
The rain was a nice change from the dry weather, but it also showed problems with Dubai’s buildings and roads.
The systems for draining water couldn’t handle all the rain, which caused roads and buildings to flood. The UAE, which is usually very dry, is seeing changes in its weather because of climate change.
This means they might get more rain in the future.
After the big rainstorm, Dubai is trying to fix the damage. The people in charge are focusing on being ready and strong for any extreme weather that might happen in the future.