Dubai roads and airport reel from †oods after record rainfall
Dubai’s giant highways were clogged by ¤ooding and its major airport was in chaos as the West Asian nancial centre remained gridlocked on Wednesday, a day after the heaviest rain on record.
Tailbacks snaked along waterlogged, six-lane expressways after up to 259.5 mm of rain, the highest amount since record keeping began 75 years ago, fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.
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 oil-rich country’s seven emirates, police said.
Power outages were reported around Dubai, which was dotted with ¤ooded areas and submerged and abandoned cars. One road tunnel near the airport was completely ¤ooded to a depth of several metres.
As sunny skies returned on Wednesday, a day after torrential downpours and rolling black clouds, stories emerged of residents stuck in cars and oces overnight.
“It was one of the most horric situations I had ever experienced, because I knew that if my car broke down, it would sink and I would drown with it,” said one worker in his 30s, who did not want to give his name, after his 15-minute commute had turned into a 12-hour saga on ¤ooded roads.
“I was very afraid,” he added.
Schools will remain closed in Dubai until next week, authorities said, underscoring the diculty of the clean-up.
One householder, also requesting anonymity, said he made a small detour on his way home on Tuesday to buy McDonald’s for his children, only to get stuck in trac and nally arrive — empty-handed — six hours later.
“I can understand that the country can’t deal with rain on this scale, but the lack of transparency and real-time information is disappointing,” he said.
‘Utter chaos’
Passengers were warned not to come to Dubai airport, the world’s busiest by international trac, “unless absolutely necessary”, an ocial said.
“Flights continue to be delayed and diverted,” a Dubai Airports spokesperson said, calling working conditions “very challenging”.
Dubai’s ¤agship Emirates airline cancelled all check-ins as sta¥ and passengers struggled to arrive and leave, with access roads ¤ooded and some metro services suspended.
At the airport, long taxi queues formed and passengers milled around, many growing increasingly frustrated as nearly every departure was repeatedly delayed.
“They are completely lost, its complete chaos — no information, nothing,” fumed one passenger, who did not want to be named, after a 12-hour wait.
Meanwhile, a large crowd gathered at a connections desk, clapping and whistling in protest at the lack of information. Scores of ¤ights were also delayed, cancelled and diverted during Tuesday’s torrential rain.
The storms hit the UAE and Bahrain overnight Monday and on Tuesday, after lashing Oman, where 18 persons were killed including children.
Climatologist Friederike Otto, a specialist in assessing the role of climate change on extreme weather events, said it was “highly likely” that global warming had worsened the storms.