TOWIE stars Joey Essex and James Argent forced to hitchhike after being trapped in Dubai floods

The Only Way Is Essex stars Joey Essex and James Argent were forced to hitchhike after being stranded in flooding caused by record rainfall in Dubai.

Essex, 33, said in an Instagram Story posted on Tuesday night that the pair “decided to hitchhike after trying to get home for a few hours.”

In the uploaded video, the reality star can be seen standing and walking in ankle-deep water, state-run WAM news agency said. “Historic weather event” It rained more than any other weather event since records began in 1949.

Standing beside a flooded road, 36-year-old Argent, also known as Arg, stretched out his hands in front of him and said, as Essex said: “Hitchhiking, we have no choice.”

Essex also uploaded a video of himself walking along the street’s pavement as a car tried to cross the flooded road and part of the pavement appeared to have collapsed.

The caption read: “After hours on the streets of Dubai looking for taxis and hitchhikers, we now decide to take the next step… survival action.”

In the next video, Essex is seen walking down the street barefoot, with water on his ankles, holding his shoes.

Footage of him walking through flooded streets was posted, accompanied by a fitting song – “Love Is Everywhere” by Wet Wet Wet.

The couple were British passengers planning to travel via Dubai International Airport when their flight was disrupted by water on a taxiway at the world’s busiest international travel hub.

Emirates canceled seven flights between the UAE and the UK, and British Airways diverted or canceled four flights and advised passengers to stay away.

Many flights were delayed for several hours on Tuesday, including an Emirates flight to Heathrow that was delayed by more than five hours.

Heavy rain hit the city late Monday, with nearly 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) of rain falling, according to weather data collected by the airport.

The situation became more severe starting around 9 a.m. local time on Tuesday, and by the end of the day, Dubai had received more than 15 centimeters (6 inches) of rain in 24 hours.

Artificial rainfall

Due to a lack of regular rainfall, many of the UAE’s roads lack drainage, which is unusual in the arid Arabian Peninsula country but occurs regularly during the cooler winter months.

Previous media reports have linked extreme weather to “cloud seeding,” in which small planes flown by governments fly through clouds to burn special salt flares that increase precipitation.

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

But Professor Maarten Ambaum, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, said, “There is currently no technology that can create or even seriously change such rainfall events.”

“These storms appear to be the result of mesoscale convective systems, a series of medium-sized thunderstorms caused by massive thunderclouds that form as heat draws moisture into the atmosphere,” he said.

“These can produce large amounts of rainfall and when they occur over a wide area, one after another, they can result in severe downpours. They can quickly lead to surface flooding, as we have seen at places such as Dubai Airport. “

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He said “heavy rainfall events” are likely to become more “extreme” “due to climate change” as a warmer atmosphere is able to hold more water vapor.

Professor Anbaum added: “The UAE does have an operational artificial rainfall program to increase rainfall in this arid part of the world, however, there is currently no technology that can create or even seriously alter such rainfall events.

“In addition, there have been no recent cloud seeding operations in the area.”

schools across the country United Arab EmiratesThe plant was largely closed before the storm but remained closed Wednesday, with the government ordering employees to continue working from home.

Rain also fell in Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and Oman has seen severe flooding in recent days.