Gulf countries are slowly recovering from a day of record rains. On Tuesday April 16, the United Arab Emirates recorded 254 millimeters of rain in one day, the equivalent of almost two years of precipitation in this desert country. Unheard of since 1949 according to the National Meteorology Center.
The storm affected the United Arab Emirates, where at least one person died – a 70-year-old man whose car slid in the emirate of Ras el-Khaimah – but also Bahrain, during the night from Monday to Tuesday, after struck Oman, where 18 people, including several children, were killed.
Very disrupted traffic at Dubai airport
This Wednesday, April 17, the sun returned but the water has not yet completely drained in Dubai, where huge lines formed on the six-lane highways, reports theAFP. Air traffic remains very disrupted in the most famous of the seven city states of the United Arab Emirates.
Travelers have been urged not to travel to Dubai Airport, the world’s busiest in terms of international traffic, “unless absolutely necessary”.
“Flights continue to be delayed and diverted (…) We are working hard to restore operations as quickly as possible in very difficult conditions”said a spokesperson for Dubai Airports.
Dubai’s flagship airline Emirates suspended check-ins on Wednesday due to difficulties accessing the airport for staff and passengers, with roads blocked and some metro services suspended.
Schools closed and taxis in high demand
Long queues formed outside airport taxi ranks, while many passengers waited inside for news of their flights. As of Tuesday, dozens of flights had been delayed, canceled or diverted.
Schools also remained closed for the second day in a row.
For Friederike Otto, lecturer in climate sciences at the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, “deadly and destructive rains in Oman and Dubai” were probably accentuated by the “man-made climate change”.
