Dubai – Pouring storms hit the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday (16) and Wednesday (17), reaching 254 millimeters – about two years’ worth – in less than 24 hours.
Dubai’s highways were clogged by flooding, and airport passengers were urged not to go to Dubai airport unless absolutely necessary. A 70-year-old man died in Ras Al-Khaimah, one of the country’s emirates, police said.
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This was the heaviest rainfall in 75 years, surpassing anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949, before the country’s foundation in 1971, the UAE state news agency WAM reported. The downpour impacted numerous regions across the country and is an exceptional event in the UAE’s climate history since the start of recording climate data.
Rainfall in Bahrain and Oman
The National Center of Meteorology said that so far, the highest rainfall was recorded in the “Khatm Al Shakla” area in Al Ain, a city in the emirate of Abu Dhabi near the Omani border. The storms hit the UAE and Bahrain after lashing Oman, where 18 people were killed.
With information from WAM and Agence France Presse.
Reproduction is prohibited.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
