ALBAWABA In April 2024, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) faced one of the most significant meteorological events in its recent history. A powerful storm, unlike any seen before, struck the region, bringing with it an extraordinary amount of rainfall.
The downpour was so intense that it equaled the average annual rainfall in some cities. The storm, which had initially hit Oman on April 14, continued its journey to the UAE, causing widespread flooding and disruption.
NASA has released photographs showing flooded areas in the UAE following heavy rainfall across various parts of the Emirates on Tuesday.
The impact of the storm was so profound that the Landsat 9 satellite, which captures images of the Earth, provided a stark comparison of the affected areas before and after the storm. The images, taken on April 3 and April 19, clearly depict the extent of the flooding and its aftermath.
On April 19, satellite images revealed the severity of the flooding. Sheikh Zayed Road, a major thoroughfare connecting Dubai and Abu Dhabi, was partially submerged.
In Khalifa City and Zayed City, residential areas southeast of downtown Abu Dhabi, patches of flooded areas were clearly visible. Even days after the storm, when the Landsat 9 satellite passed over the region for the first time since the storms, some areas remained submerged.
The images captured by the OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager 2) satellite on that day vividly illustrate the extent of the flooding. In Jebel Ali, a town located 35 kilometers southwest of Dubai, water, depicted in blue, can be seen. The industrial area of Jebel Ali, just south of the port, was particularly affected.
The UAE, known for its arid climate, rarely experiences such intense and prolonged rainfall. The storm's intensity and the resulting flooding underline the increasing unpredictability of weather patterns worldwide.
While the UAE is equipped to deal with extreme heat, such heavy rainfall is an unusual phenomenon.
