'We're living on duty free' say tourists stranded in Dubai

‘We’re living on duty free’ say tourists stranded in Dubai

Tourists stranded in Dubai’s major airports say they are “desperate for food” and are running low on water as floods cause disruption and chaos in one of the world’s busiest transport hubs.

Passengers who have spoken to the BBC say they have been waiting for hours at Dubai’s two major international airports, with little information or support provided to them.

According to flight tracking website Flight Aware, 150 flights scheduled to leave Dubai International Airport have been delayed, while a further 120 have been cancelled.

It comes after record rainfall caused floods in Gulf states, leading to the deaths of 20 people.

‘Our only food is duty free’

James and Elizabeth Devine, from Cambridge, have been stuck at the wrong connecting airport in Dubai with their six-month-old son after their flight back home from a wedding in Sydney was diverted.

It landed at Dubai World Central Airport, more than 80km (40 miles) away from their intended destination, Dubai International Airport.

Mr Devine, a 30-year-old software engineer, and Mrs Devine, a 29-year-old primary school teacher, are part of a party of nine from the UK. They’ve been “living on duty free” and say water is in short supply.

“The restaurants are closed,” Mr Devine said. “The only food we have is from duty free so it’s like they haven’t provided any food for infants or young children, there’s no nappies, so we’re like handing-off nappies to people.”

The weather conditions have forced Dubai International Airport – the world’s second busiest – to divert dozens of inbound planes and cancel a number of flights.

“We are currently experiencing significant disruption due to the weather and are continuously working with our emergency response teams and service partners to restore normal operations as quickly as possible,” it said on X, formerly Twitter.

Elizabeth and James Devine are stranded at Dubai World Central Airport with their son Thomas since early Wednesday morning

Despite the chaos, the couple said passengers have kept arriving at the airport.

“We are all stuck in this poorly resourced airport,” Mr Devine said, “there are hundreds if not thousands of people here”.

“They had to open duty free so we could eat some food but it’s running out.”

The couple say passengers are still arriving at the airport

‘We’ve been here for 13 hours so far’

Margaret McArthur, 73 and her husband Derek, 75, from Monifieth near Dundee in Scotland, are in Dubai for a two-day stopover and were supposed to be heading on to Tokyo today.

They were due to fly from Dubai International Airport on Wednesday morning but their flight was delayed and hours later, they still haven’t been given an alternative flight.

“We meant to fly at 07:50 this morning, and we have been at the airport since 06:15,” Mrs McArthur said.

“We have been here for 13 hours so far. No food and had only a coffee. There are no facilities where we were told to stay.”

Margaret and Derek McArthur were supposed to be travelling to Tokyo on Wednesday morning

The couple say they are “desperate for food” and that no vouchers have been issued to passengers.

“We don’t know what is happening,” Mrs McArthur said, adding that communication with their airline has been poor.

‘Pitch black and apocalyptic’

Matt Weir is a teacher in Dubai and has lived there for 10 years.

He said it was mid-afternoon on Tuesday when he noticed a large, ominous cloud stretching across the sky.

“At 3pm the sky went pitch black and apocalyptic – that’s when I took that picture of the sky as I saw the storm come in,” he told the BBC.

Teacher Matt Weir captured the sky just before the storm erupted

The cloud’s appearance was followed by torrential rain: “When I got back to my house it looked like I’d just got out of the bath”.

Since then, Mr Weir said “Dubai has been left under water – some places are a good metre and more under water, thousands of houses are completely flooded.”

Mr Weir said his home was unaffected, but “my neighbours’ house just two doors down is totally flooded.”

“There are also collapsed roads with cars fallen through… A lot of the shopping malls have completely leaked too.”

Footage from the centre of Dubai shows dozens of submerged vehicles on a flooded part of Sheikh Zayed Road, as well as long traffic jams elsewhere on the 12-lane highway.

Mr Weir said that though menacing clouds had been superseded by blue skies by Wednesday, “so much is still under water and infrastructure has collapsed”.

On Tuesday the UAE experienced its largest rainfall event since records began 75 years ago.

The National Centre of Meteorology announced that 254.8mm (9.7in) had fallen on Khatm al-Shakla, in the emirate of al-Ain, over less than 24 hours.

The country averages 140-200 mm of rainfall per year, while Dubai typically receives only 97mm. The monthly average for April is only about 8mm.

The heavy rain also hit Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Many factors contribute to flooding, but a warming atmosphere caused by climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.

The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.

Additional reporting by Rozina Sini, James Kelly and UGC