One of the busiest airports in the world stopped flights because the United Arab Emirates got hit with the heaviest rain ever.
Dubai’s international airport had to cancel and delay flights because of the heavy rain. People got stuck in the airport and on the runways, which were flooded. Videos showed how bad it was.
Many couldn’t even get to the airport because roads were blocked and flooded.
Dubai Airports said people should only come to the airport if they really have to. They also said that flights were getting delayed and redirected.
Emirates airline stopped people from checking in for flights leaving Dubai between 8 a.m. and midnight on Wednesday. Another airline, Fly Dubai, also stopped all flights from Dubai until 10 a.m. on April 17 because of the bad weather.
The National Centre of Meteorology said the heaviest rain hit the eastern city of Al Ain. There, it rained 254.8 mm (10 inches) in less than a day. Across the UAE, there was more than 100 mm of rain, which hasn’t happened in 75 years since they started keeping records.
Because of how bad it was, the government gave a red warning. They closed offices, schools, and banks all over the country. And They told people to stay home and park their cars in high places, away from places that could flood. They also said people should take steps to protect their homes from the rain and hail.
“We’re working really hard to get things back to normal as fast as we can, but it’s tough with this crazy weather,” the airport posted on X.
Airpot situation due to Flood:
Emirates said they’d keep helping people who were already traveling, but they warned that there would be delays for both incoming and outgoing flights. The Dubai airport website showed that some flights were delayed by several hours.
Reports from local media said that an older man from the UAE, in his 70s, died on Tuesday morning when his car got stuck in flash floods in the Ras Al Khaimah emirate, up in the north of the country.
In Oman, which is right next door, 19 people died because of three days of heavy rain. Some of them were school kids. Pictures in Omani media showed towns flooded by the rain. The Times of Oman said there would be even more rain on Wednesday.
In Dubai, even though the sky was clear, some roads were empty because the government told its workers and all the schools to stay home for another day.
Reports from UAE media and social media posts showed a lot of damage from the heavy rain. Some roads collapsed, and homes got flooded. Pictures on social media on Tuesday showed roads and parking lots underwater, with some cars completely covered. Sheikh Zayed Road, a big highway in Dubai, was partly flooded, causing a huge traffic jam that lasted for hours.
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