Dubai deluged
Two years’ worth of rain fell on the United Arab Emirates and neighboring countries
Dubai’s giant highways were under 254 millimeters of floodwater and incoming flights were diverted after two years’ worth of rain fell on the desert United Arab Emirates (UAE) overnight.
At least one person was killed after a 70-year-old man was swept away in his car in Ras Al-Khaimah, one of the country’s seven emirates, police said.
Dubai’s flagship Emirates airline cancelled all check-ins on Wednesday as staff and passengers struggled to arrive and leave, with access roads flooded and some metro services suspended.
The Dubai international airport, the world’s busiest air hub for international passengers, had been expecting more than 100 flight arrivals on Tuesday evening, but took the equally unusual step of briefly halting its operations in the chaos caused by the storm.
The storms hit the UAE and Bahrain overnight Monday and on Tuesday after lashing Oman, where 18 people were killed, including several children.
A child’s body was recovered on Tuesday, the 18th fatality in Oman, with two people missing, emergency authorities told the official Oman News Agency.
Nine schoolchildren and three adults died when their vehicles were swept away in flash floods, the news agency reported on Sunday.
Flooded mall
Flagship shopping centers Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates both suffered flooding and water was ankle-deep in at least one Dubai Metro station, according to images posted on social media.
Some roads collapsed, residential communities were hit by heavy flooding and many householders reported leaks from roofs, doors and windows.
Schools were shut across the UAE and were expected to remain closed on Wednesday, when further storms are forecast.
Dubai’s government also extended remote working for its employees into Wednesday.
The Asian Champions League football semi-final between the UAE’s Al Ain and Saudi side Al Hilal, due to be hosted in Al Ain, was postponed for 24 hours because of the weather.
Bahrain, to the UAE’s northwest, was also hit by heavy rain and flooding after being pummelled by thunder and lightning overnight.
Official media said it was the highest rainfall since records began in 1949, before the formation of the UAE in 1971.