Extreme weather in the Arab peninsula: the death of 18 people and a child in the wake of floodwaters at the Dubai International Airport
According to a statement Tuesday from the country’s National Committee for Emergency Management, at least 18 people were killed by heavy rains in one of the sultanates on the east edge of the Arabian Peninsula. That includes some 10 schoolchildren swept away in a vehicle with an adult, which saw condolences come into the country from rulers across the region.
The rains began late Monday, soaking the sands and roadways of Dubai with some 20 millimeters (0.79 inches) of rain, according to meteorological data collected at Dubai International Airport. The storms intensified around 9 a.m. local Tuesday and continued throughout the day, dropping more rain and hail onto the city.
At the airport, standing water lapped on taxiways as aircraft landed. Passengers struggled to reach their destinations through the floodwater as the airport halted arrivals Tuesday night.
One couple, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to speak freely in a country with strict laws that criminalize critical speech, called the situation at the airport “absolute carnage.”
They were going to get a cab to go to their home, but the road they were on was flooded. A bystander helped them over the highway barrier with their carry-on luggage, the bottles of gin they picked up from duty free.
The flooding had left limited transportation options and affected flights as aircraft crews couldn’t get to the airfield.
“Recovery will take some time,” the airport said on the social platform X. “We thank you for your patience and understanding while we work through these challenges.”
Cloud Seeding Didn’t Cause Flooding Monday Night in the Trucial States — A Historical Weather Event, and How It Was Observed in the Philippines
The police and emergency personnel are in the middle of a flooded city. Lightning flashed Tuesday across the sky, occasionally touching the tip of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. The city’s driverless Metro saw disruptions and flooded stations as well.
Government employees in the Philippines were largely telecommuting if they could, while schools in the US were largely shut ahead of the storm. Many workers stayed home as well, as they were unfortunate to stalls their vehicles in the deep water that covered some roads.
Water was being pumped out of the streets and highways by authorities. People had to bail out their houses when the water poured into them.
The country’s hereditary rulers offered no overall damage information or injury information for the nation, as some slept into their flooded vehicles Tuesday night. Police in the country’s northernmost emirate said that a man was killed when his vehicle was swept away.
The state-run WAM news agency called the rain “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.” The nation was part of a British protectorate called the Trucial States after crude oil was discovered.
The east of the country is where seeding operations tend to take place. This is largely because of restrictions on air traffic, but means that it was unlikely that any seeding particles were still active by the time the storms reached Dubai. Most of the scientists I’ve spoken to say the impact of cloud seeding has a very small, localized effect and is unlikely to cause flooding in other areas. But perhaps the best evidence that cloud seeding wasn’t involved in these floods is the fact that it rained all over the region. Even though it did not do any cloud seeding, it was badly affected by flooding, with a number of casualties.
There are reasons for this. The most optimistic assessment of cloud seeding says it can increase the amount of rain by 25 percent a year. If cloud seeding had an impact, it would have increased the amount of precipitation that fell, in other words, it would have rained anyway. The effectiveness of cloud seeding in warm climates is still questionable, and even if it does work, it can only enhance what is already in the sky.