Dubai Underwater: Videos Show Extent of Rare Flooding in Desert City

Two men use an inflatable bed to float above the water as downpour causes heavy flooding in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on April 17, 2024. The city recorded more than a year’s worth of rain in a single 24-hour period.

Residents of Dubai were under a stay-at-home order on Wednesday after torrential rains brought the desert city to a standstill, flooding airport runways and stranding motorists in their cars.

Videos posted on social media showed highways rendered impassable from the floodwaters, which swept in with a severe weather system on Monday that darkened the skies above the glistening skyline, except for the endless cascade of lightning strikes.

Dubai measured at least five inches of rainfall between Monday and Tuesday—about what it typically gets in a year. It was the largest rain event in the United Arab Emirates in 75 years, the government said.

The system also brought devastating flooding to other countries in the Gulf. In neighboring Oman, at least 18 people were killed in the severe weather, including 10 children who were swept away in a vehicle, according to the Associated Press.

At Dubai International Airport, the world’s second-busiest and a major hub for long-haul flights to Asia, planes had to divert as the storm caused runways and roads to flood. Videos showed jetliners taxiing through the water, which appeared to nearly lap their wing-mounted engines.

“Recovery will take some time,” the airport wrote on X. “We thank you for your patience and understanding while we work through these challenges.”

Other videos and photos showed drivers either abandoning their vehicles or attempting to drive through the waters. One viral clip shot from inside a Rolls-Royce showed the luxury car, which typically retails for more than $300,000, getting stuck in the floods.

A Porsche driver on another inundated roadway appeared to have a bit more luck.

In a different clip, police officers used a boat to rescue a cat clinging to a car’s door handle, trying to escape the rising waters.

Despite online speculation that the severe weather had been caused—or at least exacerbated—by the UAE’s “cloud seeding” program, meteorologists said the system was, in fact, forecasted. “Any seeding, if it occurred, would have been a small enhancement,” Jeff Berardelli, a meteorologist and climate expert with WFLA in Tampa, wrote on X.

Cloud seeding is a controversial practice in which tiny condensation particles are shot into the sky in the hopes of creating rain and mitigating air pollution. Some countries with arid climates, including the UAE, have operational cloud seeding programs. Some Western U.S. states also have experimented with cloud seeding, NOAA told Newsweek in a statement.

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