Flights cancelled, roads flooded as rare storm soaks UAE

DUBAI: UAE airport authorities cancelled or delayed dozens of flights and roads were flooded in major cities as the heaviest rainstorm in months lashed the desert nation on Friday.

Dubai’s Emirates airline axed 13 flights on Friday and there were also delays and cancellations at neighbouring Sharjah’s airport after the overnight downpour, which woke residents with lightning flashes and loud cracks of thunder.

Sharjah’s main street was completely flooded early on Friday, with residents seen wading through it in bare feet. One man rode his bicycle through the water, which reached the top of its wheels.

The scenes evoked memories of April 2024, when record rains caused widespread flooding and forced the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights at Dubai’s major international air hub.

On Thursday, Dubai police had urged residents to stay in unless “absolutely necessary” as the rainstorm approached.

Early on Friday, water-pumping trucks were seen around Dubai clearing blocked roads and large puddles in the streets.

The Dubai Airports website showed dozens of flights had been delayed on Friday, and some cancelled.

“Some flights… are cancelled or delayed due to adverse weather,” a Dubai Airports spokesperson said.

The National Center of Meteorology had warned of rainfall across the country from Thursday to Friday, including in Dubai and the capital Abu Dhabi.

Other Gulf states also experienced heavy rain, including Qatar where the Arab Cup football’s third-place play-off between Saudi Arabia and UAE was cancelled on Thursday.

Last year’s downpours in the UAE, the heaviest since records began 76 years ago, killed at least four people and brought Dubai to a standstill for days.

A study published by the World Weather Attribution group found that global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions “most likely” exacerbated the intense rains that lashed the UAE and Oman last year.