Oman toll reaches 18 as severe floods slam Dubai and the airport

Intense downpours on Tuesday caused roads, houses, malls, and airport operations in Dubai to momentarily cease as storms pounded the Gulf, resulting in the deaths of at least eighteen people in Oman.

The severe storms that swamped Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates caused extensive flooding paralyzed Dubai, the financial hub of the Middle East.

Signature retail establishments Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates had floods, and at least one Dubai Metro station had ankle-deep water.

Heavy floods also affected residential neighborhoods and roads in images that were common across the oil-rich Emirates, a desert nation where rain is an uncommon occurrence.

All throughout the United Arab Emirates, schools were closed, and on Wednesday—when further storms, including hail—they were predicted to be closed.

The biggest international hub in the world in terms of passenger flow, Dubai Airport, canceled almost 50 flights and temporarily halted operations for 25 minutes.

Social media users shared unverified photos of aircraft taxiing across an apron that was engulfed in thick standing water.

“Due to the intense storm, operations were temporarily suspended for 25 minutes this afternoon, but have since recommenced, and are now in recovery mode,” a spokeswoman for Dubai Airports said.

The weather forced a 24-hour postponement of the Asian Champions League football semi-final between Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates and Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, which was scheduled to take place at Al Ain.

around the course of the day until 8:00 am, certain inland parts of the United Arab Emirates received around 80 millimeters (3.2 inches) of rain, which is close to the yearly average of over 100mm.

In a statement on X, previously Twitter, the weather board “urged residents to take all the precautions… and to stay away from areas of flooding and water accumulation”.

The governments of Oman and Emirati have both issued warnings in the past about the likelihood of increased floods due to climate change.

Although it might be difficult to directly correlate specific weather occurrences with climate change, scientists do believe that it increases the probability and intensity of severe weather events.

Bahrain saw intense rain and floods subsequent after being battered by lightning and thunder throughout the previous night.

The nine-year-old Ali Hassan remarked, “I like to play in the rain, but for the first time it scares me,” while assisting his mother in removing water from outside their Manama home.

“The roar of thunder scared me, and lightning lit up the sky. I hid with my mother since I had never seen anything like this and was afraid of the sound of the rain.”

The storms passed across Oman, causing devastating floods and leaving hundreds of people trapped before making landfall in the UAE, Bahrain, and parts of Qatar.

Two persons are still missing and there are now 18 fatalities, according to emergency officials who spoke with the official Oman News Agency on Tuesday. The corpse of a kid was found.

The news agency said on Sunday that nine pupils and three adults perished when their cars were carried away by flash floods.