UAE Underwater: Chaos in Dubai as Record Rainfall Floods the Emirate
In Dubai, UAE, there was a lot of trouble because it rained very heavily. This was the heaviest rain the country had seen in 75 years, with some places getting more than 250 mm (about 10 inches) of rain in just one day. The government said this on Wednesday.
This heavy rain caused big problems. Streets were flooded, palm trees fell down, and buildings got damaged. This kind of rain has never happened in Dubai before, at least not since they started keeping records in 1949. Even in famous tourist spots like Dubai, flights were canceled, traffic stopped moving, and schools closed down.
On Tuesday, the airport recorded 100 mm (nearly 4 inches) of rain in just 12 hours. That’s as much rain as Dubai usually gets in a whole year!
The rain came so quickly and heavily that some people had to leave their cars behind because the water was rising too fast. The streets looked more like rivers than roads.
This kind of extreme rain is happening more often because the world is getting warmer due to people’s actions, like burning too much fuel. A warmer world can hold more water in the air, which can then fall as heavy rain.
This bad weather happened because of a big storm that moved across the Arabian Peninsula and over the Gulf of Oman. This storm also brought a lot of rain to nearby countries like Oman and southeastern Iran.
In Oman, heavy rain caused floods, and sadly, at least 18 people died because of it. Some of the people who died were children who were in school when the floods happened.