By Mark Grey
3:02pm PDT, Apr 19, 2024
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Dubai is drying off after record-setting rainfall pummeled the world, grinding life to a halt on April 17.
In keeping with Dubai’s media workplace, the United Arab Emirates skilled its heaviest downpour since information started in 1949.
Amid the bombardment of rain, the principle airport diverted flights, freeways had been shut down and other people had been pressured to desert their autos.
Stories emerged blaming the nation’s cloud-seeding program for the extreme rainfall, which climate specialists later debunked.
Right here, a person is seen strolling in waist-high water previous a submerged automotive that is been deserted.
Preserve studying for extra beautiful photos from the Dubai rainfall…
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Two males used an inflatable mattress to drift above the water after downpours brought about heavy flooding in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
Claims {that a} cloud-seeding program was accountable for the rainfall had been challenged by climate specialists.
“This was a particularly heavy rainfall occasion which dumped a 12 months’s price of rain throughout a large space in a single day. This a part of the world is characterised by lengthy intervals with out rain after which irregular, heavy rainfall, besides, this was a really uncommon rainfall occasion,” defined Professor Maarten Ambaum, a meteorologist at Britain’s College of Studying who’s studied rainfall patterns within the Gulf area.
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A truck is seen submerged in flood waters on a freeway after a rainstorm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
“These storms look like the results of a mesoscale convective system — a sequence of medium-sized thunderstorms attributable to huge thunderclouds, fashioned as warmth attracts moisture up into the ambiance. These can create massive quantities of rain, and once they happen over a large space and one after one other, can result in critically heavy downpours. They will quickly result in floor water floods, as we have now seen in locations similar to Dubai airport,” defined Professor Maarten Ambaum, a meteorologist at Britain’s College of Studying who’s studied rainfall patterns within the Gulf area.
“Some of these intense rainfall occasions might be made extra excessive as a consequence of local weather change, as a hotter ambiance will maintain extra water vapor. Local weather scientists have been warning for a few years that such excessive occasions will turn into extra possible in a hotter local weather and, certainly, we see this taking place round us now,” he continued.
“The UAE does have an operational cloud seeding program to boost the rainfall on this arid a part of the world, nonetheless, there isn’t any know-how in existence that may create and even severely modify this sort of rainfall occasion. Moreover, no cloud seeding operations have taken place on this space just lately,” the professor added.
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An deserted ambulance is seen submerged in flood waters on a freeway after a rainstorm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
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Automobiles had been deserted on a flooded freeway after a rainstorm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
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A driver deserted a submerged automobile on a flooded freeway in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
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Automobiles had been deserted on a flooded freeway after a rainstorm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
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Automobiles had been broken after a portion of a roadway collapsed from heavy rainfall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 16, 2024.
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Individuals deserted their submerged autos on a flooded freeway in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
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Automobiles poked out of the water after being deserted on a flooded freeway after a rainstorm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
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The skyline rose behind a van submerged in flood waters on a freeway after a rainstorm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
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Members of the Dubai Civil Protection used a bowser to take away water from a flooded freeway after a rainstorm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
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Automobiles had been deserted on a flooded freeway after a rainstorm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
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A person waded by means of a flooded road after heavy rainfall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
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Automobiles tried to drive by means of flooded streets following heavy rains in Dubai on April 17, 2024.
Dubai, the Center East’s monetary heart, has been paralysed by torrential rains that brought about flooding throughout the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and left 18 lifeless in Oman on April 14 and 15.
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A person is seen sitting on a railing in entrance of a flooded restaurant as individuals wade by means of submerged streets in a flooded space after heavy rains soaked Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
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It isn’t the primary time the streets have flooded…
On Feb. 12, 2024, a sports activities automotive navigated a flooded street the place a water pump was exhausting at work following heavy rains in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.