The Jerusalem Post

Clean up begins after torrential rains hit UAE

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DUBAI (Reuters) – Authoritie­s and communitie­s across the United Arab Emirates were clearing debris on Wednesday after at least one person died and homes and businesses were damaged in a rare torrential storm.

The extent of the damage was not immediatel­y clear as emergency workers sought to drain flooded roads across the country hours after heavy rain subsided late on Tuesday.

The UAE saw record rainfall with 254 mm. falling in less than 24 hours in Al Ain, a city on the UAE-Oman border, according to the National Meteorolog­y Center. That was the most since records began in 1949, before the UAE was formed in 1971.

The UAE lacks much of the needed drainage infrastruc­ture to handle heavy rain. It is not uncommon for roads to become partially submerged during extended periods of rainfall. It typically only ever rains a few times a year.

The UAE also frequently seeds clouds to increase rainfall. A forecaster from the National Meteorolog­y Center denied any cloud seeding operations had taken place recently.

However, Bloomberg earlier quoted the agency as saying seven cloud seeding operations had occurred in the days before the storm.

Climate scientists say that rising global temperatur­es, driven by man-made climate change, is leading to more extreme weather events, including intense rainfall like the UAE storm.

The impact of the heavy rain continued to be felt on Wednesday, with roads blocked and flights severely disrupted.

Emirates, one of the world’s biggest internatio­nal airlines, stopped checking-in passengers departing Dubai until midnight. Flydubai, which partially resumed flights in the morning, said operations would not return to normal until after midnight. Meanwhile, budget carrier Air Arabia suspended check-in to flights to and from Sharjah until 2 a.m. on Thursday.

 ?? (Amr Alfiky/Reuters) ?? A MAN WALKS through flood waters caused by heavy rains, with the Burj Khalifa tower visible in the background, in Dubai yesterday.
(Amr Alfiky/Reuters) A MAN WALKS through flood waters caused by heavy rains, with the Burj Khalifa tower visible in the background, in Dubai yesterday.

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