Chaos ensued in the United Arab Emirates after the country witnessed the heaviest rainfall in 75 years, with some areas recording more than 250 mm of precipitation in fewer than 24 hours, the state’s media office said in a statement Wednesday.

The rainfall, which flooded streets, uprooted palm trees and shattered building facades, has never been seen in the Middle Eastern nation since records began in 1949. In the popular tourist destination Dubai, flights were canceled, traffic came to a halt and schools closed.

One-hundred millimeters (nearly 4 inches) 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.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    3 months ago

    Oh good, well we better keep pumping it out of the ground then. It’s not like that could spell the end of Western civilization or anything.

    • demonsword@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      What I meant is that your schadenfreude is misplaced. Since there is oil in UAE it would be exploited wheter people living there wanted or not. And, well, it will keep being exploited until civilization falls, that’s the nature of the economic system we are all cursed to live under.