When record downpours caused floodwaters to pour into his Dubai home, Riaz Haq expected water levels to drop once the rain stopped. But instead of falling, the water continued to rise.

“We went to bed and the water was half a meter (half a yard) deep,” the British lawyer said, recalling Tuesday’s storm that flooded homes, shopping malls, offices and roads.

“We woke up to a meter of water. My car was submerged and the water was up to our waists. Everything was destroyed.”

Harker, his wife and their dog were trapped upstairs in the two-story building for more than two days before being rescued by a neighbor’s boat on Thursday.

The couple could only salvage some bread and snacks and spent most of their time without eating, surviving on just a few bottles of water.

“The refrigerator, the freezer, even my car was floating. Everything was floating,” he told AFP. “I had a brand new car. It was all destroyed.”

“This is a natural disaster. No one is prepared for this level of carnage,” he added.

During their ordeal, Huck, his wife and their neighbors – about 18 families living in a suburban housing complex – were too frightened to wade through the waist-high, foul-smelling water for fear of electrocution.

“The water is locked inside”

The inability to drain the water proved to be a major obstacle to recovery efforts in the desert country, with persistent flooding blocking roads around Dubai for days.

Impassable roads have affected essential services, with supermarkets unable to restock and many employees struggling to reach their workplaces.

Dubai Airport, the world’s busiest airport for international passengers, has been hit hard by staff shortages, with flight cancellations and delays expected to continue into the weekend.

Karim Elgendy, associate director at engineering consultancy Buro Happold, said stormwater drainage has not yet been widely integrated into the city’s plans, most of which are only a few years old.

“Someone must have vetoed the decision because it hardly rained. I think the conversation took place very briefly,” he told AFP.

“Water is locked inside. If you have a hard surface like a road or an airport, where does it go? The ground is too hard (to absorb the water),” Ergendi added.

Unable to drain the excess water, authorities relied on pumping trucks to suck it up with giant hoses and haul it away.

Ergendi called it a “stopgap” measure. But once the infrastructure is built, installing stormwater systems is difficult, he said.

“Once a city is built a certain way, it’s almost impossible to retrofit stormwater management,” he said.

“Dubai Brand”

The oil-rich United Arab Emirates has experienced its heaviest rainfall on record, killing four people, including two Filipino women who suffocated in their car amid floods in Dubai.

Elgendi warned that climate change will make extreme weather events more common and said the storm, which brought two years of rainfall to the Gulf state, was consistent with the effects of global warming.

“This particular incident highlights how historical considerations around (whether to install stormwater systems) have changed because there is a cost,” he said.

“There’s also a reputational cost. These runways and the sight of planes taking off in the water – I don’t think that’s consistent with the Dubai brand,” he added, referring to widely shared footage of planes taxiing through standing water on Tuesday.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed has ordered at-risk families to be moved to safety and directed an urgent study of the country’s infrastructure.

While Huck feels reassured by the support, uncertainty remains.

“We don’t know when we’re going to get back to normal,” he said.

“They are using water tankers to remove the standing water. It will take a few days. But I am sure the authorities will do everything they can to get us back home.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)