Dubai, central Asia and southern Russia have all experienced uncommon levels of rainfall. Evacuations have ensued in various regions but much of the public distress has been around the Dubai airport which has flooded. The buzz around the Dubai airport flooding is due to the unusual levels of rainfall and the impact on travel. While rain is not unheard of and is even desired by much of the region, the recent rainfall is extremely out of the norm. For such a hot desert location, the strange flooding has turned heads across the globe. Learn more about how the Dubai flooding has impacted the busiest airport for international travel.
Dubai and Recent Flooding
What some have described as at least one or two years worth of Dubai’s regular rainfall has fallen in all of 24 hours. Around 10 inches of rain were dumped by storms during the heaviest rain recorded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Dubai International Airport (DXB) has experienced significant difficulties following the significant rainfall.
How Dubai’s Airport Flooding Impacts Locals and Travelers
Dubai did not have the infrastructure to combat the heavy rains, so the streets were flooded. Naturally, this made it hard for flight crew to get to the airport on flooded roadways. Road access to the airport was brought to a halt due to the waterlogged streets. Some locals could be seen canoeing and wake boarding to get around the streets. Some people even had to leave their vehicles on the road as the waters rose.
This, plus flooded areas in the Dubai airport has created a struggle to resume regular flights after the heavy rainfall. Flooded runways, obviously, were less than ideal environments to operate in. So the airport had to negotiate with the space they were left with and attempt to recoup for the time lost. Nearly 600 flights departing and arriving at the airport were delayed, while at least 30 were canceled.
On top of that, unprecedented numbers of travelers fill the airport. This is due to a high amount of flight delays and cancellations, which left travelers stranded and without transportation to their next destination. These issues have only been amplified by the popularity of the airport. It was recently ranked the second busiest global airport (for 2023). Around 87 million travelers flew through the Dubai International Airport alone last year.
More About the Floods
Much of the public discussion about this bizarre series of weather events has been about the climate crisis. Experts in the climate crisis space, like climate change activists and climatologists, have said that the rains are a result of climate change. This incident is being connected to human caused climate change. The changing weather conditions are due to the planet’s warming atmosphere, which has brought on extreme weather. Some speculate that the floods in Dubai are just the beginning of bizarre weather events across the world.
Some people have made connections to Dubai’s aggressive cloud seeding. Cloud seeding is a process of dispersing rain inducing chemicals from small planes through the clouds. But scientists say the rains were caused by many intense thunderstorms due to the moisture wicking atmosphere.