Heavy rains lashed the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, flooding portions of major roads and leaving vehicles abandoned across Dubai.
Meanwhile, the death toll in separate heavy flooding in neighbouring Oman rose to 18 with others still missing as the sultanate prepared for the storm.
The rains began overnight, leaving water on streets as winds disrupted flights at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and the home of the long-haul carrier Emirates.
Lightning flashed across the sky, occasionally touching the tip of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
Schools across the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, largely shut ahead of the storm and government employees were mostly working remotely.
Authorities sent tanker trucks out into the streets to pump away the water.
Many roads and other areas lack drainage given the lack of regular rainfall, causing flooding.
Initial estimates suggested over 30mm of rain fell over the morning in Dubai, with as much as 128mm (five inches) of rain expected throughout the day.
Dubai – like the rest of the United Arab Emirates – has a hot and dry climate. As such, rainfall is infrequent and the infrastructure is not in place to handle extreme events.
When it rained Tuesday, it absolutely poured.
Torrential rainfall events like this will become more frequent due to human-driven climate change. As the atmosphere continues to warm, it’s able to soak up more moisture like a towel and then ring it out in the form of more extreme gushes of flooding rainfall.
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