Dubai, accustomed to drought, is having problems with heavy rain.
In Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, it usually rains about 90–130 millimeters during the year. The coastal city on the Persian Gulf is used to scorching heat and dryness.
On Tuesday, almost 100 millimeters of water fell in the city during 12 hours. Heavy rains are part of a larger storm front crossing the entire Arabian Peninsula.
Located in the desert of the Arabian Peninsula, Dubai was not built with heavy rains in mind. Tuesday’s surprise rain caused sinkholes on the roads and confused the entire city’s traffic, when the rainwater remained standing in the markets.
The UAE edition of Al-Arabiya shared a video of the collapsed highway on its X account.
The heavy rains were especially surprising at Dubai Airport, which is the world’s busiest airport in terms of the number of international passengers. On Tuesday, flights were stopped for two hours.
On Wednesday, the airport announced “significant disruptions due to bad weather”. Several flights have been postponed, and according to the airport, it will take some time to restore order.
The UAE edition of Al-Arabiya shared a video from the airport where the planes are crawling in a deep body of water.
In neighboring Oman, the storm sowed serious destruction: 18 people died in the floods before Tuesday.
Source: Reuters