Dubai underwater following torrential rains

Dubai was underwater after torrential rain overwhelmed the sewage system and left roads under water and street level shops swimming in water on March 28.

The record downpour overwhelmed drainage and sewage systems, and disrupted transport across parts of the city.

Vehicles were left stranded in deep water, with some roads rendered impassable and underpasses turned into large pools as runoff accumulated quickly. The scale of the flooding followed what residents described as unusually intense and prolonged storms.

“This wasn’t normal rain… this was historic, record-breaking storms hitting infrastructure that simply wasn’t built for it,” one resident said on social media, reflecting the extent of disruption across the emirate.

As bne IntelliNews reported, as the disaster season gets under way, changes rainfall is one of the new extreme weather changes that is resulting from the accelerating Climate Crisis, including more frequent droughts and floods.

Authorities have not yet released full details on rainfall totals, but the downpour exceed the design capacity of urban drainage systems in several districts. “Drain systems overwhelmed. Water has nowhere to go. The city flooded FAST,” the same account said.

Dubai, like much of the Gulf, has limited infrastructure designed for sustained heavy rainfall, given its arid climate. Sudden, high-intensity storms can therefore lead to rapid surface flooding when water cannot be absorbed or efficiently channelled away.

Some observers have pointed to cloud seeding as a possible contributing factor, a technique used in the UAE to enhance precipitation. However, others argue the primary issue was the volume of rainfall rather than its cause. “Some people are bringing up cloud seeding… but the reality is simple—most places aren’t built to handle that level of rainfall, especially in a desert. Nature hit hard… and the system couldn’t keep up.”

The incident follows on from a similar downpour two years ago that left the Dubai international airport a lake and swapped the rest of the city. It was hit with the heaviest rainfall in 75 years after a whole year's worth of rain fell in a single day on April 17, 2024.