Storm floods, cancels events and delays flights in Dubai – 03/09/2024 – Environment

After a night of tension, in which the United Arab Emirates government asked the population to stay at home to avoid the effects of a possible storm, the rains came with a vengeance this Saturday morning (9) in the Persian Gulf country.

In Dubai, the region’s main hub and home to the second busiest airport in the world, flights were delayed due to flooding and strong winds.

A group of businesspeople led by former São Paulo governor João Doria, who spent the week in meetings in the emirate and Saudi Arabia, saw their Emirates Airbus A380 take off five hours later than expected. A member of the delegation joked that it was revenge for an Arabic version of Saint Peter: last week, the Emirati consul in São Paulo had to be rescued by firefighters from an stranded car.

The plane arrived to board the passengers, but everyone had to return to the terminal. Another Emirates flight, this one to Moscow, was grounded for three hours, with inconsistent announcements about its status. In the end, it took off at 11:45 am (4:45 am in Brasília).

In Dubai, streets were flooded throughout the central region, leaving tourists isolated in shopping malls and hotels who had received a catastrophic warning at 8:58 pm (1:58 pm in Brasília) that ended up not being confirmed in the early hours of the morning. When it arrived for good, at 7:45 am (0:45 am in Brasília), the rain finally lived up to the forecast.

The same was seen in Abu Dhabi, the country’s capital. In the emirate of Sarjah, the main highway, which crosses the country from Oman to Saudi Arabia, was closed and traffic was diverted. In Ras al-Khaimah, the highway lane gave way and barriers fell.

The Skate Street Pro Tour, which takes place in Dubai, had its semi-finals postponed. On Friday, only skater Rayssa Leal had qualified for the women’s stage. In the men’s category, Gustavo Ribeiro would compete this Saturday. Now, athletes must compete either on Sunday (10) or Monday (11).

The disruption sounds strange, given that the Emirates are in the desert. Rain in the first four months of the year, however, is not uncommon. What is unusual, and is associated with climate change that affects the entire planet in a systemic way, is the violence and recurrence of events.

Last year, the thermometer went above 50⁰C several times in Dubai. This Saturday’s rain follows another destructive storm, which occurred on February 12. Despite all its modernity, the emirate is not known for the effectiveness of its water drainage network.

On the contrary: the country maintains a rain incentive program, bombarding all cloud formations that show promise with a mixture of potassium chloride and other elements during this wetter season — according to official propaganda, after 60 flights the trick usually ends. work.

But the system that hit the gulf region this weekend has nothing to do with that, it’s actually rain. Instability is expected to continue in the coming days.

The Emirates, which were unified in 1971, have diverse contributions to carbon emissions in the world. In Abu Dhabi, 60% of GDP comes from the sale of the monarchy’s abundant oil. Dubai, which had 50% of its wealth extracted from wells for a brief period, today only earns 1% of its GDP from oil.

In common, both emirates, the main ones among the seven existing ones, have a strong rhetoric in favor of the transition to a cleaner energy matrix. Dubai hosted COP28 last year, an event criticized by environmentalists.

In Abu Dhabi, roadside posters praise the government’s program on the subject, but at the end of the day what is still important is the presence as a monument on the city’s main avenue of the tower that extracted the first drops of the emirate’s oil, in 1958.

The major player in the region, however, is Saudi Arabia, owner of the second largest oil reserves on the planet. Riyadh has embarked on a plan to reduce emissions by 50% in 2030, neutralizing carbon by 2060. Despite the intention, the program is criticized for being financed precisely by the increase in exports of hydrocarbons to other countries.

The journalist traveled at the invitation of Lide