Heavy thunderstorms on Tuesday lashed the United Arab Emirates (UAE), dumping the heaviest rain ever recorded in the country in the span of hours as it flooded out portions of major highways and Dubai’s international airport.
The state-run WAM news agency called the rain “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.”
That was before the discovery of crude oil in the nation, which was then part of a British protectorate known as the Trucial States.
Photo: Reuters
The rains began late on Monday, soaking the sands and roadways of Dubai with 20mm of rain, meteorological data collected at Dubai International Airport showed.
The storms intensified at about 9am on Tuesday and continued throughout the day, dumping more rain onto the overwhelmed city.
By the end of Tuesday, more than 142mm had soaked Dubai over 24 hours.
An average year sees 94.7mm of rain at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and a hub for long-haul carrier Emirates.
At the airport, standing water lapped on taxiways as aircraft landed. The airport on Tuesday night halted arrivals and passengers struggled to reach terminals through the floodwater covering surrounding roads.
One couple, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely in a country with laws that criminalize critical speech, called the situation at the airport “absolute carnage.”
“You cannot get a taxi. There’s people sleeping in the metro station. There’s people sleeping in the airport,” the man said yesterday.
They got a taxi to near their home about 30km away, but floodwater on the road stopped them.
A bystander helped them over a highway barrier with their luggage.
Dubai International Airport yesterday said that the flooding had left “limited transportation options” and affected flights as aircraft crews could not reach the airfield.
“Recovery will take some time,” the airport wrote on X. “We thank you for your patience and understanding while we work through these challenges.”
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
‘SIGNS OF ESCALATION’: Russian forces have been aiming to capture Ukraine’s eastern Donbas province and have been capturing new villages as they move toward Pokrovsk Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi on Saturday said that Ukraine faced increasing difficulties in its fight against Moscow’s invasion as Russian forces advance and North Korean troops prepare to join the Kremlin’s campaign. Syrskyi, relating comments he made to a top US general, said outnumbered Ukrainian forces faced Russian attacks in key sectors of the more than two-and-a-half-year-old war with Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a nightly address said that Ukraine’s military command was focused on defending around the town of Kurakhove — a target of Russia’s advances along with Pokrovsk, a logistical hub to the north. He decried strikes
China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing the nation’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. There have long been rumors that China is planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but the research by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California is the first to confirm it is working on a nuclear-powered propulsion system for a carrier-sized surface warship. Why is China’s pursuit of nuclear-powered carriers significant? China’s navy is already
RSS