Heavy rain forecast in Dubai: Two-day holiday announced

DUBAI: Once again, heavy rains have been predicted in the United Arab Emirates. According to the Emirates Meteorological Department, heavy rains are expected from Wednesday evening to Thursday.

According to the UAE Meteorological Department, the UAE has been affected by the extension of the surface low pressure from the Red Sea. Humid south-easterly winds will also affect the weather in the UAE, it stated.

A representative of the Emirati Meteorological Department says that there is a possibility of heavy rains with thunderstorms, while some places may also experience hail, during which the speed of strong winds can reach up to 65 kilometres per hour.

In view of the forecast of rain on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the United Arab Emirates, Thursday and Friday have been declared holidays in the educational institutions of Dubai.

According to officials, the purpose of the vacation is to ensure the safety of teachers and students.

For a couple of days from April 16, Dubai International Airport faced unprecedented chaos as heavy rain and thunderstorms wreaked havoc, flooding crucial areas and disrupting travel plans for thousands of passengers.

Read more: UAE orders remote work, distance learning over heavy rain forecast

Video footage circulating on social media depicted the severity of the situation, with planes struggling to navigate through waterlogged runways.

Operations at the airport were temporarily suspended for 25 minutes to address the disruption, highlighting the severity of the situation. The airport management confirmed the challenges faced due to major flooding on roads leading to the airport, exacerbating the already tumultuous conditions.

In response to the crisis, authorities swiftly took action, temporarily diverting arriving flights until weather conditions improve. Despite this, departures continued, albeit with potential delays.

Passengers were urged to stay updated on their flight statuses, allow extra travel time, and consider utilizing the Dubai Metro for smoother transit amidst the chaos.

PIA suspends flights to Dubai, Sharjah as heavy rains return to UAE

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Thursday announced that flight operations to Dubai and Sharjah would remain suspended due to the return of severe weather conditions that lashed the United Arab Emirates last month.

Schools and many offices were closed across the UAE as heavy rains returned just two weeks after record downpours that experts linked to climate change.

A lightning storm with high winds swept across the oil-rich monarchy overnight, with more than 50 millimetres of rain falling before 8am in some areas, the National Centre of Meteorology said. Flooding was seen in some parts of Dubai and the city’s airport.

The airport, the world’s busiest in terms of international passenger traffic, cancelled 13 flights and diverted five, a spokesperson said.

A statement from the PIA spokesperson said that flight operations for Dubai and Sharjah were “severely affected” due to the rains, adding that flights of the national carrier and other airlines would “remain suspended for the time being”.

It said that some PIA flights were facing delays and cancellations due to the bad weather.

“PIA is very conscious of its troubling its passengers. PIA will renew its air operations immediately as soon as the situation improves.”

Meanwhile, UAE state carrier Emirates and sister airline flydubai both warned passengers of delays, as schools switched to remote learning and public-sector offices closed.

But the rains were not on the scale of April 16, when a record 259.5 mm of rain left four people dead, blocked major roads for days and forced the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights.

Little traffic was seen on Dubai’s normally heaving, six-lane highways today and cars were abandoned on flooded roads near the sprawling Ibn Battuta Mall.

Trucks pumping water were stationed in several flooded areas, as Dubai’s drainage is unable to cope with large-scale rainfall.

Last month’s downpour, which also killed 21 people in neighbouring Oman, was the heaviest in the UAE since records began in 1949.

World Weather Attribution, a network of scientists that assesses the role of climate change in extreme weather events, found the deluge was “most likely” exacerbated by global warming caused by burning fossil fuels.