A view of the road after heavy rainfall as adversarial climate situations have an effect on each day life in Dubai.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Nationwide Heart of Meteorology, a authorities taskforce liable for cloud seeding missions within the United Arab Emirates, denied experiences that it carried out the climate modification method within the run-up to heavy storms throughout the nation, subsequently exacerbating flooding in locations like Dubai.
The group instructed CNBC that it didn’t dispatch pilots for seeding operations earlier than or throughout the storm that struck the UAE on Tuesday.
Omar AlYazeedi, deputy director normal of the NCM, mentioned the company “didn’t conduct any seeding operations throughout this occasion.”
He added, “One of many fundamental ideas of cloud seeding is that it’s a must to goal clouds in its early stage earlier than it rains, in case you have a extreme thunderstorm scenario then it’s too late to conduct any seeding operation.”
A normal view of the stranded automobiles within the flooded space after heavy rainfall as heavy rains negatively have an effect on each day life in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on April 17, 2024.
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On Tuesday, the nation skilled its heaviest downpour so far, with greater than 250 millimeters (10 inches) of rainfall within the Emirate of Al Ain, in line with NCM figures, and recording greater than 100 mm in locations like Dubai. The annual rainfall within the UAE averages between 140 to 200 mm.
The NCM denial follows an earlier Bloomberg report, by which Ahmed Habib, a specialist meteorologist, had mentioned that the Tuesday rains had stemmed partly from cloud seeding. Habib later instructed CNBC that six pilots had flown missions as a part of common protocol, however had not seeded any clouds. CNBC was not in a position to independently confirm the experiences.
Cloud seeding, a course of used to boost rainfall, has been an integral a part of the UAE’s mission to resolve water shortages. Seeding missions have been launched within the Nineteen Nineties, and greater than 1,000 hours of cloud seeding at the moment are carried out yearly.
The NCM mentioned it had tracked the incoming heavy rainfall however didn’t goal any clouds throughout that interval, attributing the storm to pure rainfall.
The deputy director normal added: “We take the protection of our folks, pilots, and aircrafts very severely. The NCM doesn’t conduct cloud seeding operations throughout excessive climate occasions.”
A view of submerged automobiles at a road after heavy rainfall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on April 17, 2024.
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The Gulf state has skilled an increase in rainfall in the previous couple of years, and precipitation is predicted to extend by 15%-30% within the coming years, in line with a report from the science journal Nature.
Historically characterised by its desert local weather and scarce rainfall, the UAE has skilled shifts in climate patterns over time as a consequence of local weather change.
The UAE authorities’s Nationwide Emergency Disaster and Catastrophe Administration Authority issued warnings on social media platform X forward of the unstable climate situations and urged residents to remain house and cling to security pointers.
The UAE’s infrastructure and buildings are designed to endure climate patterns typical to the area, equivalent to minimal rainfall. The Emirates’ drainage methods struggled to manage throughout the unprecedented downpours, leading to flooded roads and airports and halting the nation’s essential operations.
Autos are stranded on a flooded road following heavy rains in Dubai early on April 17, 2024. Dubai, the Center East’s monetary heart, has been paralyzed by the torrential rain that brought on floods throughout the UAE and Bahrain and left 18 useless in Oman on April 14 and 15.
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