Flooded shopping centers, collapsed roads and condemned metro stations... The images of Dubai underwater this Tuesday are impressive. In the Emirati country, 2 years of rain fell in 24 hours. The violent storms also affected Bahrain, Oman and parts of Qatar. In these countries with dry climates, the falls have caused extreme flooding which paralyzes transport. In Oman, 18 people died following the torrential rains.
Dubai International Airport, one of the busiest in the world, diverted some flights on Tuesday, a rare phenomenon in the desert country also the economic capital of the Emirates, where more than 100 flights were expected Tuesday evening. Ubai's Emirates airline said it was suspending check-in for passengers leaving the airport from 8 a.m. until midnight on Wednesday due to operational difficulties caused by poor weather and road conditions. Passengers thus spent the night at the airport, without the possibility of leaving.
Roads collapsed, schools closed
Some roads collapsed, residential neighborhoods were affected and many residents reported leaking roofs, doors and windows.
“In 13 years in Dubai, we had never seen such intensity
,” tells
Le Figaro
, Marie, a French expatriate in the Emirati country, who put up a makeshift barricade to prevent water from entering her house . Schools were closed until Wednesday inclusive, and the Dubai government decreed teleworking for its employees.
More than 16cm of rain was recorded in the UAE city between Monday evening and Tuesday evening, according to the Dubai Meteorological Bureau. Usually, Dubai receives on average no more than... 3mm throughout the month of April. Other parts of the Emirates recorded more than 80 millimeters of rain in 24 hours, closing in on the annual average of around 100 mm.
Some residents are still without power Wednesday morning.
“To explore the flooded streets, we took out the paddle board, more suitable than the bike
,” says Marie, who reports that water pumps were deployed in the streets to start sucking up the water.
18 dead in Oman
In Oman, at least 18 people have died since Sunday in these floods after the body of a child was discovered on Tuesday, according to the authorities. Nine schoolchildren and three adults died when their vehicles were swept away by flash floods, ONA news agency reported on Sunday.
Parts of Qatar, another Gulf country, were also affected by torrential rains. In Bahrain too, heavy rains fell on the country on Tuesday.
Friederike Otto, lecturer in climate sciences at the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, said it was likely that global warming played a role in the exceptional rainfall.
“It is very likely that the deadly and destructive rains in Oman and Dubai were made stronger by man-made climate change
,” he wrote. The Emirati and Omani governments have previously warned that climate change risks leading to more flooding.