Part of Dubai has for the first time in history gone underwater after the city experienced heavy rains and thunderstorms, leading to flooded streets.
People were advised to avoid flood-prone areas, including beaches, according to IndiaTv. Videos circulated on social media showing waterlogged roads and a man rowing a boat on a flooded road. Dubai police worked to manage traffic during the extreme weather. The heavy downpour was caused by convective clouds and cloud seeding, according to the UAE’s weather agency. Said Dr Abdul Habib, a weather expert from the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) of UAE:
We expected this rainfall of different intensity especially in the northern and eastern parts of the county that day due to convective cloud formation over the sea moving gradually towards coastal areas, starting from Dubai to Sharjah, Ajman and so on.
On November 18th, Expo City Dubai experienced the highest recorded rainfall of 65.88 mm. The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) stated that the weather on Thursday will be partly cloudy with the possibility of low clouds appearing over certain coastal and western areas. Floods killed dozens of people in Dubai last year.