Unusually heavy rainfall flooded parts of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week. As much rain fell in one day as normally falls in a whole year in the usually dry country.
The flooding was so intense that its effects were visible from space even days after the clouds had cleared and the last drops of rain had fallen. Two days after the rain, NASA was able to take images. Before and after photos of the UAE’s worst ever flood have now been published
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The satellite captured images of large puddles, which are not normally found in the desert state. Deep blue pools are in stark contrast to the region’s usual dry soil. The images show the southernmost part of Dubai. The urbanized central part of the city is not in the picture.
The satellite was also able to capture images of significant flooding in Abu Dhabi. On images, small, shallow puddles appear light blue. The larger and deeper pools are colored dark blue. Large parts of the usually dry and yellow-brown soil also take on a light green tint after rainfall. This probably shows that the soil in many areas is still moist even if it had not been flooded.
In just 24 hours, 254 millimeters of rain fell last week, the largest amount since records began in 1949. The country’s meteorological institute reported that some of the rain may have been artificially generated. This was later denied and referred to as ‘natural rainfall’. In any case, the severe weather caused a lot of inconvenience in Dubai and at least one death.
According to Ahmed Habib, a meteorologist from the National Meteorological Center (NCM) who spoke to Bloomberg news agency, the precipitation was partly the result of cloud seeding, a technique used to generate rain. However, that claim was later denied by the NCM through Deputy Director General Omar Al Yazeedi.
He told the American news channel CNBC that the institute did not carry out any cloud seeding operations in the run-up to a storm. That storm crossed the Arabian Peninsula and then crossed the Gulf of Oman. The same storm also caused flooding in Oman, causing several fatalities.
Rescuers in Dubai found a soaked cat clinging to a car door (video):
Due to the severe weather in Dubai, highways and the international airport were flooded (video):
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