Storm brings heaviest rainfall on record to desert nation UAE

Dubai International Airport was flooded on Wednesday, disrupting the world’s busiest airport for international travel as the desert nation tried to shake off the heaviest rainfall on record locally.

The state-run WAM news agency called Tuesday’s rain a “historic weather event” that exceeded “any event recorded since data collection began in 1949.” That was before the discovery of crude oil in this energy-rich country, which was then part of the British protectorate known as the Armistice.

Rain also fell in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. However, heavy rainfall occurred across the UAE. One reason may be “cloud seeding,” in which small planes flown by governments fly through clouds to burn special salt flares. These flares increase precipitation.

Some reports quoted National Center for Meteorology meteorologists saying they flew six or seven cloud seeding flights before the rainfall. The center did not immediately respond to questions Wednesday, but flight tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed an aircraft linked to the UAE’s cloud-seeding efforts was flying around the country on Sunday.

The UAE, which relies heavily on energy-hungry desalination plants for water, conducts artificial rainfall in part to augment its dwindling, limited groundwater supplies.

Rains began late Monday night, soaking Dubai’s sand and roads with about 20 millimeters (0.79 inches) of rain, according to weather data collected at Dubai International Airport. The storm intensified around 9 a.m. Tuesday and continued throughout the day, bringing more rain and hail to the overwhelmed city.

Dubai had received more than 142 millimeters (5.59 inches) of rain in the 24 hours ending Tuesday. Dubai International Airport, a hub for long-haul airline Emirates, receives an average of 94.7 millimeters (3.73 inches) of rainfall per year.

At the airport, standing water lapped at the taxiway as the plane landed. Arrivals of flights had stopped on Tuesday night and passengers trudged through floodwaters that flooded surrounding roads to reach the terminal.

Emirates said it had stopped checking in passengers for flights departing from Dubai from 8 a.m. to midnight on Wednesday as it tried to clear the airport of transit passengers, many of whom had been sleeping in the spacious terminal.

Schools in the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven emirates, were largely closed before the storm and government employees were mostly working remotely when possible. Many workers also stayed at home, but some ventured out and unfortunately some roads were filled with deeper water than expected and their vehicles stalled.

Authorities sent tankers to pump out water from streets and highways. Water poured into some homes, forcing rescue operations.

Meanwhile, heavy rains in recent days have killed at least 19 people, the National Emergency Management Committee of neighboring Oman, which sits on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, said in a statement on Wednesday. They included about 10 schoolchildren who were swept away in a car along with an adult, and the region’s rulers traveled to the country to express their condolences.