People queue at a flight connection desk after a rainstorm hit Dubai, causing delays at the Dubai International Airport, United Arab Emirates, April 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Heavy rains and thunderstorms lashed the U.A.E. on May 2, leading to the cancellation of several international flights, two weeks after Dubai was hit by unprecedented storms that paralysed the emirate for days.

On May 1, the country’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) elevated the readiness and preparedness levels of the national system to deal with the situation.

While these rains are expected to be less severe than the unprecedented downpour that hit the country last month, the public is urged to take precautions.

On April 14-15, extreme rainfall battered regions of the Arabian Peninsula, with Dubai experiencing the heaviest rains on record since 1949.

Dubai-based Emirates airline announced the cancellation of several flights on May 2 due to bad weather across the U.A.E. as movements at Dubai International Airport (DXB) were reduced.

“Customers arriving or departing from Dubai airport on 2 May can expect some delays as flights are rescheduled,” Emirates said in a statement.

The following flights have been cancelled on May 2: EK 123/124 — between Dubai and Istanbul, EK 763/764 — between Dubai and Johannesburg, EK 719/720 — between Dubai and Nairobi, Ek 921/922 — between Dubai and Cairo, EK 903/904 — between Dubai and Amman, and EK 352/353 – between Dubai and Singapore (EK353 departing 3 May, 12.30 am — UAE time). The airline has also waived rebooking charges to help stranded passengers.

“Based on the expected weather conditions, the Ministry of Interior recommended, in coordination with NCEMA, activating remote learning on Thursday and Friday for all educational institutions, with decisions to be made by the competent authorities at the federal level and officials of local emergency management teams, in coordination with the Ministry of Education and the Emirates Schools Establishment,” it said on May 1.

As heavy winds and light rains lashed across the main cities, residents appeared more equipped to ride it out. Remote work systems were advised for all government and private sectors on May 2 and 3, except for vital jobs that require presence at the workplace and those involved in response and recovery efforts. The Interiro Ministry, in coordination with NCEMA, also decided to close all roads leading to areas prone to flash floods, water accumulations, and dams during the weather conditions.

“They urged the public to stay away from these areas and adhere to safety standards and guidelines, avoid mountainous, desert, and coastal areas,” said a statement. Besides moderate to heavy rain in scattered areas, accompanied by occasional lightning and thunder, a possibility of small hail, concentrated in the western regions, on the coasts, and in some eastern areas have also been warned.

Some flights were disrupted on May 1 and some events were postponed due to the inclement weather conditions. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said its flight (EY197) from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport (AUH) was diverted to Al-Ain “due to adverse weather conditions in Abu Dhabi”. The flight, which was scheduled to arrive in Abu Dhabi around 1.35 p.m., eventually landed around 7-30 p.m..

In Dubai, the Ports, Customs, and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC) announced the temporary suspension of accepting requests for the entry and departure of wooden dhows in Dubai. The PCFC has also advised sailors to avoid sailing during this time to ensure everyone’s safety. As dark clouds gathered and howling winds started to beat the windows across the city, residents looked more assured, and definitely better prepared.

Dubai Metro announced the extension of operating hours ahead of expected weather conditions, extending from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. (the next day). However, the number of stops for these trains was reduced.

“Heavy thunderstorms are forecast in Dubai on May 2. If you’re travelling to Dubai International Airport, you may experience road delays. We recommend adding extra travel time to reach the airport and using Dubai Metro where possible,” the Emirates airline’s spokesperson was quoted by the local media as saying on May 1.

The authorities have also been advised not to sail, and avoid valley areas, torrential rains, and low-lying places. They have been asked to exercise caution while driving vehicles and adhere to the instructions of the competent authorities.

A leading weather experts has warned of “weather wars” between countries if cloud seeding gets out of hand. In a statement, Johan Jaques, a senior meteorologist at environmental technology company KISTERS, has warned if unintended consequences when technology is used to alter the weather. The comment comes as theories claiming Dubai’s torrential rainfall was caused by cloud seeding are doing the rounds on the internet. The practice, in which planes inject clouds with chemicals, was introduced in the 1940s especially in areas with little rainfall, or in case of prolonged dry spell.

But several experts don’t agree with the theory that cloud seeding was responsible, and the theory has caused a debate in the community.

Still, Mr Jaques thinks there could be diplomatic consequences and subsequent “weather wars” is cloud seeding is allowed to proliferate.

“Cloud seeding aims to enhance and accelerate the precipitation process. Especially in areas which have not seen any rain over a long time, such intense precipitation can lead to infiltration excess flow, with potential flash floods as a result,” the meteorologist said in a statement, as per Newsweek.

“The Dubai floods act as a stark warning of the unintended consequences we can unleash when we use such technology to alter the weather. Additionally, we have little control over the aftermath of cloud seeding. Where exactly is it going to be raining effectively? Using techniques such as cloud seeding to bring much-needed rainfall in one area can cause flash floods and droughts in another,” Mr Jaques further said.

There is no evidence to suggest that rain in Dubai was caused by cloud seeding. A UAE government agency that oversees the process has denied that any such operations took place before the storm.

The UAE state news agency late on Wednesday carried a statement from President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan saying he had ordered authorities to assess the damage and provide support to families impacted by the storm.

Dubai airport, one of the world’s busiest, witnessed major disruption for a third straight day Thursday after the heaviest rains on record drenched the desert United Arab Emirates.

Emirates, Dubai’s state-owned flagship airline, and sister carrier flydubai resumed check-ins after telling passengers to stay away on Wednesday when thousands of delayed passengers clogged the airport.

The airport, which handles more international passengers than any other, hopes to resume “something approaching normality” within 24 hours, Dubai Airport CEO Paul Griffiths told AFP.

Some 1,244 flights were cancelled and 41 were diverted on Tuesday and Wednesday after torrential rains flooded the Middle East financial centre including its homes, malls and offices, and highways.

Traffic congestion remained severe on Thursday, two days after the storms, with at least one major road completely blocked by water and multiple junctions cut off by flooding.

Climate experts say the rains, the UAE’s heaviest since records began 75 years ago, are consistent with changes caused by global warming.

“There’s no news here,” Karim Elgendy, Associate Director at the Buro Happold engineering consultancy and associate fellow at Britain’s Chatham House think tank, told AFP. 

“We are expecting an increase in variability of rainfall, which means more extreme events, more drought and an increase in intensity of rainfall when it does rain.

‘Deeply distressed’ 

Dubai airport has witnessed chaotic scenes with crowds of marooned travellers clamouring for information about their flights.

Even as Emirates and flydubai resumed check-ins, more than 200 departures were listed as delayed or cancelled on the airport’s website.

Griffiths said it was “challenging” to get the airport fully functional, with supplies and staff also held up on flooded roads.

“Getting supplies through, people and all of the necessary things to the airport to help the schedule recover, was a massive challenge because all of the roads were blocked,” he said in an interview.

“We just hope that the level of customer care that we’ve been able to provide will go some way to mitigate the impacts that we had to customers. But obviously we’re deeply distressed by all of the disruption and concern that we’ve created,” he added.

One elderly couple’s 14-hour flight from Brisbane took 24 hours on Tuesday after it was diverted, and they were then unable to reach their hotel because of the flooding.

“It’s just the start of our holiday and I feel like going home — and I don’t know how to do that either,” Julie, 72, told AFP through tears.

“When they landed the plane on this airfield that was deserted, there was no terminal, there were no other planes and I thought we had been hijacked by terrorists,” she added, without giving her surname.

Makeshift ferry

Although schools and public sector offices have been closed until next week, traffic returned to the roads with some motorists, finding their route blocked, driving the wrong way down highways.

Supermarkets had empty shelves as deliveries failed to arrive, and retail staff reported having to stay overnight or sleep at hotels because they could not get home.

“We’re working but the problem is we’re not receiving chicken,” said one employee at a chicken restaurant that had no chicken or fries on display.

“The delivery cannot come here because of the flood.”

In the Arjan district, a man used a canoe to paddle passengers across a flooded street.

With taxis hard to book and hail, private motorists were stopping at queues of people and offering rides for high prices.

British visitor Chris Moss, 30, was one of those looking for a cab as he tried to reach the airport and locate his lost luggage.

“When we arrived the baggage area was full of bags but my luggage was nowhere to be seen,” said Moss, whose plane, hastily booked after his original flight was cancelled, arrived five hours late.

“It was still on the plane because the baggage area was flooded and they couldn’t get the bags off.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A storm hit the United Arab Emirates and Oman this week bringing record rainfall that flooded highways, inundated houses, grid-locked traffic and trapped people in their homes.

At least 20 people were reported to have died in the deluge in Oman while another person was said to have died in floods in the UAE that closed government offices and schools for days.

The storm had initially hit Oman on Sunday before it pounded the UAE on Tuesday, knocking out power and causing huge disruptions to flights as runways were turned into rivers.

In the UAE, a record 254 millimetres (10 inches) of rainfall was recorded in Al Ain, a city bordering Oman. It was the largest ever in a 24-hour period since records started in 1949.

Did Cloud Seeding Cause The Storm?

Rainfall is rare in the UAE and elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula, that is typically known for its dry desert climate. Summer air temperatures can soar above 50 degrees Celsius.

But the UAE and Oman also lack drainage systems to cope with heavy rains and submerged roads are not uncommon during rainfall.

Following Tuesday’s events, questions were raised whether cloud seeding, a process that the UAE frequently conducts, could have caused the heavy rains.

Cloud seeding is a process in which chemicals are implanted into clouds to increase rainfall in an environment where water scarcity is a concern.

The UAE, located in one of the hottest and driest regions on earth, has been leading the effort to seed clouds and increase precipitation.

But the UAE’s meteorology agency told Reuters there were no such operations before the storm.

What About Climate Change?

The huge rainfall was instead likely due to a normal weather system that was exacerbated by climate change, experts say.

A low pressure system in the upper atmosphere, coupled with low pressure at the surface had acted like a pressure ‘squeeze’ on the air, according to Esraa Alnaqbi, a senior forecaster at the UAE government’s National Centre of Meteorology.

That squeeze, intensified by the contrast between warmer temperatures at ground level and colder temperatures higher up, created the conditions for the powerful thunderstorm, she said.

The “abnormal phenomenon” was not unexpected in April as when the season changes the pressure changes rapidly, she said, adding that climate change also likely contributed to the storm.

Climate scientists say that rising global temperatures, caused by human-led climate change, is leading to more extreme weather events around the world, including intense rainfall.

“Rainfall from thunderstorms, like the ones seen in UAE in recent days, sees a particular strong increase with warming. This is because convection, which is the strong updraft in thunderstorms, strengthens in a warmer world,” said Dim Coumou, a professor in climate extremes at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Can’t Create Clouds From Nothing

Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer in climate science at Imperial College London, said rainfall was becoming much heavier around the world as the climate warms because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. It was misleading to talk about cloud seeding as the cause of the heavy rainfall, she said.

“Cloud seeding can’t create clouds from nothing. It encourages water that is already in the sky to condense faster and drop water in certain places. So first, you need moisture. Without it, there’d be no clouds,” she said.

Global warming has resulted in “extraordinarily” warm water in the seas around Dubai, where there is also very warm air above, said Mark Howden, Director at the Australian National University’s Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions.

“This increases both potential evaporation rates and the capacity of the atmosphere to hold that water, allowing bigger dumps of rainfall such as what we have just seen in Dubai.”

Gabi Hegerl, a climatologist at Edinburgh University, said that extreme rainfall, like in the UAE and Oman, was likely to get worse in many places due to the effects of climate change.

When conditions are perfect for really heavy rain, there’s more moisture in the air, so it rains harder. This extra moisture is because the air is warmer, which is because of human-caused climate change, she said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)