Dubai’s giant highway was lodged by flooding and the major part of the airport was in chaos as the West Asian financial center remains gridlock on Wednesday. The rain happened in the city almost after 75 years though most of the time, the city remains hot and dry.
Not only in Dubai, the rain also happened in Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Reason for the unusual rain
The country which relies on energy desalination plants to provide water, conducts cloud seeding, in part to increase its dwindling, limited groundwater. Rain is unusual in UAE and also in Arabian Peninsula but rarely occurs during the winter session.
Scientists assume that climate change is responsible for more intense and frequent extreme storms, droughts, floods across the world. Road tunnel near the airport was completely flooded to a depth of several meters.
“It was one of the most horrific experiences that I have ever faced in my life”, said one worker after his 15 min commute turned into a 12-hour saga on flooded roads. Schools will remain closed until next week.
Impacts on Travel
Dubai also faces travel disruption due to this unusal event. The flights from to and from Dubai were badly affected since late Monday. According to the travel industry, 30-40 India flights were affected over Monday and Tuesday. Airlines say other airports that have direct flights to UAE from India have not been battered severely by torrential rain. But flights which saw significant diversion from Dubai bound flights late Monday and early Tuesday are getting delayed too.
Attempts to bring back normalcy
The United Arab Emirates attempted to dry out from Wednesday. The state-run news agency called the rain Tuesday “a historic weather event”. The national, an English language state linked newspaper in Abu Dhabi quoted an anonymous official at the center on Wednesday as no cloud seeding took place on Tuesday, without acknowledging any earlier flights.
Dubai hosted the UNCOP28 climate talks last year. Rising temperature and the other affects of global warming have been discussed there. The rising temperature and other affects of global warming have been viewed as a threat to life.
Most supermarkets and shopping malls are closed and home delivery are out of action. In a conciliatory message on X, Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed said, “Crisis reveal the strength of countries and societies and the natural climate crisis that we experienced showed great care, awareness, cohesion and love for every corner of the country from all its citizens and residents.”
