Climate experts say the rains are consistent with changes caused by global warming
Dubai airport, one of the world’s busiest, suffered major disruption for the third day in a row on Thursday after the heaviest rain on record flooded the UAE desert.
Emirates, Dubai’s main state-owned airline, and sister carrier flydubai have resumed check-ins after telling passengers to stay away on Wednesday as thousands of delayed passengers crowded the airport.
The airport, which handles more international passengers than any other, hopes to return to “something close to normality” within 24 hours, Dubai Airport CEO Paul Griffiths told AFP.
Some 1,244 flights were canceled and 41 were diverted on Tuesday and Wednesday after torrential rains flooded the Middle East’s financial hub, including its homes, shopping malls and offices, as well as highways.
Traffic congestion remained severe on Thursday, two days after the storms, with at least one major road completely blocked by water and several intersections cut off by floodwaters.
Climate experts say the rains, the heaviest in the UAE since records began 75 years ago, are consistent with changes caused by global warming.
“There is nothing new here,” Karim Elgendy, associate director at engineering consultancy Buro Happold and associate fellow at British think tank Chatham House, told AFP.
“We expect an increase in rainfall variability, which means more extreme events, more droughts and an increase in rainfall intensity when it rains.
‘Deeply distressed’
Dubai airport witnessed chaotic scenes with crowds of stranded travelers clamoring for information about their flights.
Even as Emirates and flydubai resumed check-ins, more than 200 departures were listed as delayed or canceled on the airport’s website.
Griffiths said it was “challenging” to get the airport fully functional, with supplies and personnel also stranded on flooded roads.
“Moving supplies, people and all the necessary things to the airport to help get back on schedule was a huge challenge because all the roads were blocked,” he said in an interview.
“We just hope that the level of customer service we have been able to provide can go some way to mitigating the impacts we have had on customers. But we are obviously deeply distressed by all the disruption and concerns we have created,” he added.
An elderly couple’s 14-hour flight from Brisbane took 24 hours on Tuesday after it was diverted, and they were unable to reach their hotel because of flooding.
“It’s just the beginning of our vacation and I feel like going home – and I don’t know how to do that either,” Julie, 72, told AFP through tears.
“When they landed the plane at this airfield that was deserted, there was no terminal, there were no other planes and I thought we had been hijacked by terrorists,” he added, without revealing his nickname.
Improvised ferry
Although schools and public sector offices have been closed until next week, traffic has returned to the roads with some motorists, who found their route blocked, driving in the wrong direction on the motorways.
Supermarkets were left with empty shelves because deliveries didn’t arrive, and retail workers reported having to stay overnight or sleep in hotels because they couldn’t get home.
“We are working, but the problem is that we don’t receive any chicken,” said an employee at a chicken restaurant that had no chicken or fries on display.
“The delivery cannot come here because of the flood.”
In Arjan district, a man used a canoe to paddle passengers across a flooded street.
With the difficulty of booking and hailing taxis, private drivers stopped in queues of people and offered rides at high prices.
British visitor Chris Moss, 30, was one of those looking for a taxi as he tried to get to the airport and locate his lost luggage.
“When we arrived, the baggage claim was full of suitcases, but my luggage was nowhere to be found,” said Moss, whose plane, hastily booked after her original flight was canceled, arrived five hours late.
“He was still on the plane because the baggage area was flooded and they couldn’t get his bags out.”
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