Last week’s rain were Dubai’s heaviest in the last 75 years.
American space agency NASA has released photos of areas that were flooded in the UAE after last week’s torrential rain. NASA said it was a “slow-moving storm” system that brought so much rain into the Gulf states and dropped more than a year’s worth of downpour in some areas. The country’s meteorological department said it received 6.04 billion cubic metres of rain last week, which is close to the 6.7 billion cubic metres it receives in the entire year, according to Khaleej Times.
“Some areas remained flooded on April 19, when Landsat 9 (satellite) passed over the region for the first time since the storms. The image showed flooding in Jebel Ali,” said NASA.
Also Read | More Rain To Hit UAE From Monday, Week After Record Deluge In Dubai
Its Landsat 9 satellite monitors understanding and managing the land resources needed to sustain human life.
The space agency also posted a combination image of the deluge on X, showing the UAE on April 3 and April 19. The first image shows the arid plains, which the country is known for. The second one, meanwhile, shows blue coloured water puddles in some southern stretches.
In the United Arab Emirates, a storm system brought more than a year’s worth of rain to some cities earlier this week.
These #Landsat images show flooding around Abu Dhabi before and after the storms with enhanced color to show water in blue. https://t.co/y7OqLmrcH5pic.twitter.com/4kHEz0eULX
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) April 19, 2024
Explaining the NASA images, Khaleej Times said the April 19 photo shows Sheikh Zayed Road, a major thoroughfare that runs through Dubai and Abu Dhabi, covered in water. Patches of flooded areas are also visible in Khalifa City and Zayed City, residential areas southeast of Abu Dhabi’s downtown.
The deluge hit the normal life in Dubai, where a majority of private sector entities opted for work from home.
The failure of water to drain away proved a major obstacle to recovery efforts in the desert country, with persistent flooding blocking roads around Dubai for a few days.
Without drainage for excess water, authorities relied on pumping trucks to suck it up with giant hoses and drive it away.
The heavy rain is being blamed on climate change.
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