Dubai suffers after 48 hours of intense rain

The city of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, experienced an unusual problem last Tuesday (16). The city was hit by the most intense storm recorded in the last 75 years. In less than 2 days, the volume of rain recorded in the city was 142 millimeters of rainwater. The unexpected situation caused major disruption as the expected volume for the entire year was 94.7 millimeters of rain.

Flooded airport

Residents of Dubai, a city known for its desert soil, face flooded streets with dozens of abandoned cars, still almost completely covered by water. The city's airport (DXB), one of the busiest in the world with an intense flow of international passengers, had to suspend its operations due to flooding caused by heavy rains. Passengers on suspended flights posted photos and videos on social media showing the conditions of the landing strip, where the aircraft appeared to be “sailing” in the water, and the completely flooded concourse. The storm also hit several neighboring countries, such as Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. However, the United Arab Emirates was the most affected by the floods.

_{Images of Dubai Airport, completely flooded (Video: Reproduction/YouTube/UOL)}

Cloud seeding

Although the causes of the phenomenon are still unknown, the Associated Press news agency believes that the cause may have been a human factor, that is, poorly calculated “cloud seeding”. This “seeding” is a human intervention carried out with planes that bombard the clouds with specific chemicals, such as silver iodide or dry ice, causing rain in the cities overflown. The UAE government carries out regular flights for this purpose, as the country largely depends on desalination plants to obtain drinking water, an expensive process because it consumes a lot of energy. According to the AP, there are reports from local meteorologists that the National Weather Center conducted six or seven “rain seeding” flights ahead of this week’s storms. The press linked to the Abu Dhabi government reported that there was no flight of this type on Tuesday (16), however it did not mention the occurrence in the previous days.

Featured photo: Abandoned vehicles on the streets of Dubai (reproduction/G1/AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)