Unexpectedly, These are the 3 Causes of the Massive Floods that Paralyzed Dubai

JAKARTA – The factors that caused the floods that paralyzed Dubai made many people curious. This is because the world metropolis in the United Arab Emirates has long been known as a dry area where water is scarce. Rainfall is minimal.

However, the reality on the ground speaks differently, on Tuesday (16/4/2024) local time, Dubai was completely paralyzed by standing water after being hit by heavy rain accompanied by a storm. The roads were flooded, causing traffic to become paralyzed and parked cars being swept away. Water also flooded residential areas, schools, offices and airports.

Reporting from Reuters, Friday (19/4/2024) the following factors caused the floods that paralyzed Dubai:

1. Heavy rain and storm

Causative factor Dubai floods the first is heavy rain and storms. Heavy rains and storms are the main cause of major flooding in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. At least 20 people were reported to have died in flash floods in Oman, while another person died in the UAE and caused government offices and schools to be closed for days.

The storm initially hit Oman on Sunday before hitting the UAE on Tuesday, knocking out power and causing major disruption to flights as runways turned into rivers. In the UAE, a record rainfall of 254 millimeters (10 inches) was recorded in Al Ain, a border town of Oman. It was the most ever recorded in a 24-hour period since records began in 1949.

2. Poor Drainage System

The second factor causing Dubai floods is the poor drainage system. Rainfall is rare in the UAE and elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula, which is typically known for its dry desert climate. Summer air temperatures can also soar above 50 degrees Celsius. But the UAE and Oman also lack drainage systems to cope with heavy rains and flooded roads are not uncommon during the rainy season.

After Tuesday’s events, questions have been raised about whether cloud seeding, a process the UAE often undertakes, could cause heavy rain. Cloud seeding is a process in which chemicals are implanted into clouds to increase rainfall in environments where water scarcity is a concern. The UAE, located in one of the hottest and driest regions on earth, has led efforts to seed clouds and increase rainfall. However, the UAE’s meteorological agency told Reuters there had been no such operation before the storm.

3. Climate Change

The third factor causing the Dubai floods is climate change. The heavy rainfall was likely caused by a normal weather system made worse by climate change, experts said. The low pressure system in the upper atmosphere, coupled with the low pressure at the surface, has acted like a pressure ‘push’ on the air, according to Esraa Alnaqbi, a senior forecaster at the UAE government’s National Meteorological Center.

That pressure, intensified by the difference between warmer temperatures at ground level and cooler temperatures at higher elevations, creates conditions for strong thunderstorms. The abnormal phenomenon was unexpected in April because when the season changes, the pressure changes rapidly. Esraa Alnaqbi said that climate change also likely contributed to the storm.

Climate scientists say that rising global temperatures, caused by human-led climate change, are causing more extreme weather events around the world, including heavy rainfall. “Precipitation from thunderstorms, as seen in the UAE in recent days, experiences a very strong increase with warming. This is because convection, which is a strong updraft in thunderstorms, strengthens in a warmer world,” said Dim Coumou, professor extreme climate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Friederike Otto, senior lecturer in climate science at Imperial College London, said rainfall is becoming much heavier across the world as the climate warms because a warmer atmosphere can hold more water. “It is misleading to talk about cloud seeding as a cause of heavy rain. Cloud seeding cannot create clouds out of nothing. It encourages water that is already in the sky to condense more quickly and drop the water in a specific place. So, first, you need moisture. Without “There will be no clouds,” he said.

Global warming has resulted in “very” warm water in the sea around Dubai, where there is also very warm air above. “This increases the potential evaporation rate and the capacity of the atmosphere to hold that water, allowing for greater rainfall like we have just seen in Dubai,” said Mark Howden, Director at the Australian National University’s Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions.

Gabi Hegerl, a climatologist at the University of Edinburgh, said that extreme rainfall, such as in the UAE and Oman, was likely to become more severe in many places due to the impact of climate change. “When conditions are perfect for very heavy rain, there is more moisture in the air, so the rain is heavier. This extra moisture occurs because the air is warmer, which is caused by human-caused climate change,” he said.

(msf)