As the opulent financial hub reeled from record rainfall on Wednesday, passengers at the airport were advised to avoid Dubai due to flooding on the city’s massive roadways.
Massive backups formed on six-lane motorways on Tuesday as the United Arab Emirates’ arid desert received up to 254 millimeters of rain, or roughly two years’ worth.
In Ras Al-Khaimah, one of the seven emirates of the country, a 70-year-old man was carried away in his automobile, resulting in at least one fatality, according to authorities.
Passengers were warned not to come to Dubai airport, the world’s busiest by international traffic, “unless absolutely necessary”, an official said.
“Flights continue to be delayed and diverted… We are working hard to recover operations as quickly as possible in very challenging conditions,” a Dubai Airports spokesperson said.
The major airline based in Dubai, Emirates, canceled all check-ins on Wednesday due to flooding on access roads and the suspension of several metro services, which made it difficult for employees and customers to arrive and depart.
Long taxi lines formed at the airport, where delayed travelers congregated. In addition, a large number of aircraft were canceled, delayed, and diverted due to Tuesday’s intense rain.
Once the storms swept through Oman, where they killed eighteen people, including numerous children, they made landfall in the UAE and Bahrain overnight on Monday and Tuesday.
“Highly likely” is how climatologist Friederike Otto put it when describing how climate change affects extreme weather events. She told AFP that the storms were made worse by global warming.
According to official media, it was the most rainfall since 1949, the year the United Arab Emirates was formed.
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