Tailbacks snaked alongside waterlogged, six-lane expressways after as much as 255 mm (9.7 inches) of rain, probably the most since information started 75 years in the past, fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.Not less than one individual was killed after a 70-year-old man was swept away in his automobile in Ras Al-Khaimah, one of many oil-rich nation’s seven emirates, police mentioned.
Rain additionally fell in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Nonetheless, rains had been acute throughout the UAE. One doable contributor could have been “cloud seeding“, wherein small planes operated by the government fly by way of clouds burning particular salt flares. These flares can enhance precipitation.
A number of reviews quoted meteorologists on the Nationwide Heart for Meteorology as saying they flew six or seven cloud-seeding flights earlier than the rains. Flight-tracking information analyzed by AP confirmed one plane affiliated with the UAE’s cloud-seeding efforts flew across the nation Monday.
The Nationwide, an English state-linked newspaper in Abu Dhabi, quoted an nameless official on the centre as saying no cloud seeding occurred on Tuesday, with out acknowledging any earlier flights.
The nation, which closely depends on energy-hungry desalination crops to supply water, conducts cloud seeding partly to extend its dwindling, restricted groundwater. Rain is uncommon within the UAE, an arid, Arabian Peninsula nation, however happens periodically through the cooler winter months. Many roads and different areas lack drainage given the shortage of normal rainfall, inflicting flooding. Scientists additionally say local weather change normally is accountable for extra intense and frequent excessive storms, droughts, floods, wildfires the world over.
Energy outages had been reported round Dubai, which was dotted with flooded areas and submerged and deserted automobiles. One highway tunnel close to the airport was utterly flooded to a depth of a number of metres. As sunny skies returned Wednesday, tales emerged of residents caught in automobiles and places of work in a single day. “It was one of the vital horrific conditions I ever skilled,” mentioned one employee after his 15-min commute become a 12-hour saga on flooded roads. Faculties will stay closed till subsequent week, officers mentioned, underscoring the issue of the clean-up.
(With inputs from AP & AFP)
