Flash flooding in Dubai causes disruption at second-busiest airport in the world

A year’s worth of rain unleashed immense flash flooding in Dubai on Tuesday as roads turned into rivers and rushing water inundated homes and businesses.

Shocking video showed the tarmac of Dubai International Airport – recently crowned the second-busiest airport in the world – underwater as massive aircraft attempt to navigate floodwaters. Large jets looked more like boats moving through the flooded airport as water sprayed in their wake and waves rippled through the deep water.

Disruption to airport operations continued into Wednesday, with access roads blocked by flooding and multiple airlines including flag carrier Emirates reporting flight delays. Budget airline Flydubai cancelled all flights until 10 a.m. local time Wednesday.

One stranded passenger told CNN he spent the night at the airport with hundreds of others after flying in from Hong Kong late Tuesday because there were no transport options out of the terminal.

“The airport is literally filling up and there’s nowhere for anyone to go,” said Bilal, 25, who only wished to be identified by his first name.

Nearly 4 inches (100 mm) of rain fell over the course of just 12 hours on Tuesday, according to weather observations at the airport – around what Dubai usually records in an entire year, according to United Nations data.

The rain fell so heavily and so quickly that some motorists were forced to abandon their vehicles as the floodwater rose and roads turned into rivers.

Video from social media showed water rushing through a major shopping mall and inundating the ground floor of homes.

Like the rest of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai has a hot and dry climate. As such, rainfall is infrequent and in many areas there is limited infrastructure such as drainage to handle extreme events.

When it rained Tuesday, it absolutely poured.

Torrential rainfall events like this will become more frequent due to human-driven climate change. As the atmosphere continues to warm, it’s able to soak up more moisture like a towel and then ring it out in the form of more extreme gushes of flooding rainfall.

The rain that plunged Dubai underwater is associated with a larger storm system traversing the Arabian Peninsula and moving across the Gulf of Oman. This same system is also bringing unusually wet weather to nearby Oman and southeastern Iran.

Rain is expected to taper off in the region but a few showers may linger Wednesday before dry weather returns.