Dubai airport flooded after year and a half’s worth of rain falls on city in one day

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Dubai experienced an extraordinary amount of rain that would typically take a year and a half to accumulate in just one day. This resulted in the unfortunate death of one individual and caused significant travel disturbances at the world's busiest airport.

On Tuesday, a significant portion of the financial capital experienced a standstill due to the heavy rain that poured, exceeding over a year's worth of rainfall, as per the meteorological records. Approximately 6 inches of rain fell on the city.

The torrential downpour in the United Arab Emirates caused extensive damage. Photos and videos revealed highways sunk in water, cars stranded, and homes and businesses ravaged. Communities and authorities worked together to remove debris from affected areas following the disaster that, unfortunately, claimed the life of one person.

Dubai Airport, known for its high traffic and being an important hub for connecting flights, had to redirect multiple planes due to travel disruptions caused by a runway that was found to be submerged in water up to knee-level.

Travelers endured lengthy waits for their flights and encountered difficulties in accessing airport terminals due to the inundated roads.

The airport was operating at a reduced capacity on Wednesday. The airport authority reported on X that there were few transportation alternatives and flights were affected because airplane staff were unable to get to the airfield.

The airport stated that it will require a considerable amount of time to recover from the difficulties it is facing. The airport expressed appreciation for the patience and comprehension of its customers as it navigates through these problems.

A few planes were rerouted to Al Maktoum International Airport situated at Dubai World Central, which is the second airport in the state.

A pair of individuals referred to the circumstances as "complete chaos".

According to an anonymous passenger, as criticism is not allowed in the country, there are individuals sleeping in the metro station and airport, making it impossible to find a taxi.

The CEO of the airport, Paul Griffiths, expressed that the present moment was extremely difficult and all the safe parking spots for airplanes were occupied.

As far as people can remember, there has never been circumstances as severe as this," informed Mr. Griffiths in an interview with the government-run radio channel, Dubai Eye.

We are currently in a new and unfamiliar situation, but I wish to assure everyone that we are putting in maximum effort to ensure the well-being of our patrons and employees.

According to WAM, a government-owned news agency, the rain that fell on Tuesday was an exceptional weather event. It was described as having exceeded any recorded precipitation in history since data collection began in 1949.

The countries of Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman also experienced heavy rain which led to the death of 18 people in Oman.

Yet, the magnitude of rainfall was at its peak in the UAE. Normally, Dubai gains an average precipitation of about 3.7 inches throughout the year, whereas on a single day, it encountered a whopping rainfall of 5.7 inches.

Before the strong downpours, the authorities in the United Arab Emirates had given caution, asking individuals to remain inside and to go out only for extremely critical situations.

Educational institutions in all seven emirates have been closed and individuals have been requested to work from home until Wednesday.

In the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, located in the most northern part of the country, authorities reported that a man who was 70 years old lost his life after his vehicle was taken away by the strong currents caused by heavy flooding.

The cause of the rainfall was due to a strong storm system that passed over the middle-east and gained strength at approximately 9am on Tuesday. As a result, the arid region was soaked by the heavy precipitation and became submerged under water.

Nevertheless, experts indicate that the excessive rainfall can be attributed to various elements, such as the cloud seeding techniques employed in the UAE and the environmental issues caused by human activities.

AFP was informed by Federike Otto, a professor at Imperial College London and co-founder of World Weather Attribution (WWA), that human-caused climate change is probable to have increased the severity of the deadly and devastating rain in Oman and Dubai. WWA investigates the correlation between weather occurrences and the climate crisis.

It's not common for Dubai to get so much rain, and because they don't have good drainage, the city can't deal with big floods. This happened at Cop28, a big climate conference, and it also happened the year before the conference.

On Wednesday, the officials dispatched trucks to areas that experienced flooding to get rid of the excess water.

Professionals also identified cloud seeding as a factor, which is a technique used to increase rainfall by introducing moisture to clouds artificially. This is frequently carried out by the UAE to compensate for its diminishing groundwater reserves.

The National Center for Meteorology reported that the government had conducted approximately six or seven flights for cloud seeding prior to the onset of heavy rainfall.

The centre did not verify or refute this claim. As per the Associated Press, an airplane involved with the UAE's cloud-seeding program flew over the nation on Sunday.