Masafi, Sep 5 (AP) Outside a mountain village on the northern fringes of the United Arab Emirates, the typically relentless summer sun was suddenly obscured by clouds on a recent weekend. Fierce winds toppled planters and sent a dumpster careening down the street. Then came the rarest visitor of all: rain.
Rainfall has long held a special fascination for the people of the Emirates. Locals dressed in traditional white robes eagerly venture into the deserts during any shower, joined by the country’s substantial expatriate community, many of whom hail from the monsoon-swept Indian subcontinent.
Yet for the seven sheikhdoms of the Arabian Peninsula, rain brings both promise and peril.
Dubai alone is now home to an estimated 4 million people, a dramatic increase from the 255,000 residents reported in 1980. This population boom exerts considerable pressure on the region’s water supply.
Concurrently, as global warming alters weather patterns, the country experienced unprecedented rainfall last year, causing disruptions to international travel and prompting its leaders to reconsider urban planning, while residents cast nervous glances skywards.
“Here, rain is almost like a firework event,” said Howard Townsend, an unofficial Dubai-based weather forecaster who has garnered a Facebook following. “It's usually too hot to be outside, so when it rains, it feels like a blessing, a release.”
An Ever-present Thirst in a Growing Nation
The UAE, with an estimated total population of 10 million, is bordered by the Persian Gulf to the north and west and the Gulf of Oman to the east. The Hajar Mountains form its boundary with neighboring Oman. The southern Arabian Peninsula, primarily Oman and Yemen, receives monsoon rains along its coastlines. However, the interior expanse known as the Empty Quarter experiences weather patterns that typically preclude cloud formation.
This leads to sparse and infrequent rainfall in certain regions. The Emirates thus rely heavily on about 70 water desalination plants for drinking water, complemented by drip irrigation systems utilizing recycled wastewater. Recent years have also seen the construction of dams to capture and store runoff.
Despite these efforts, the World Resources Institute ranks the UAE as seventh globally for water scarcity risk. Groundwater reservoirs have long shown signs of stress. The nation has also engaged in "cloud seeding" for years, deploying aircraft to release chemicals into clouds to encourage precipitation.
“Water is more important than oil,” reportedly remarked Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE leader and Abu Dhabi ruler, back in 2011.
This is particularly true in Dubai, whose burgeoning population increasingly strains infrastructure. The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, a government-owned utility, reported producing 683.7 billion liters of water via desalination last year, with demand continuing to rise alongside urban expansion.
Yet, official statistics indicate that Emirati residents consume approximately 550 liters of water per day, among the highest rates globally.
Future Flooding Remains a Concern
While rain continues to capture public imagination, it now also inspires fear, particularly following the floods of April 2024 that swept across Dubai. In a single day, more rain fell than had been recorded since 1949, when modern meteorological data collection began in what is now the UAE.
Over 142 millimeters of rain deluged Dubai within 24 hours. By comparison, Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, typically records an average of 94.7 millimeters of rainfall annually.
Although this quantity might seem manageable elsewhere, Dubai’s desert landscape could only absorb so much, leading to flooding in the urban core.
A subsequent analysis by scientists from World Weather Attribution, which evaluates weather events in the context of climate change, determined that 85 percent of Dubai’s population and 90 percent of its infrastructure were “vulnerable to rising sea levels and extreme weather events.”
“It's not just about increased rainfall; it's where the rain can go,” Townsend explained, calling it an escalating concern as Dubai's development spreads further into its desert perimeter.
Since then, government utility and emergency vehicles have been equipped with snorkels to prevent engine inundation, a modification many residents have also adopted. Insurance losses are estimated to have reached as high as USD 4 billion.
Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has announced an ambitious USD 8 billion initiative to construct a comprehensive rainwater drainage system for the city, employing underground tunnels.
Described as “the region’s largest single-system rainwater collection project,” Sheikh Mohammed stated in June that the initiative would enlarge the city's drainage network capacity by 700 percent, ensuring preparedness for future climate challenges.
However, rain can also bring joy to this desert nation.
Storm Chasing in the Emirates
On a recent Saturday, Muhammed Sajjad Kalliyadan Poil scanned the eastern desert skies of the UAE. Overhead, a bulging cumulonimbus cloud promised rain. That was the target, he declared.
Leading an eager group, Kalliyadan Poil drove towards the outskirts of Masafi, a village nestled between Fujairah and Ras al-Khaimah, two of the UAE's seven emirates. Known as the “UAE Weatherman” on Instagram, he has cultivated a reputation over time.
Shared nostalgia brings Kalliyadan Poil and his fellow Indians from Kerala to pursue such storm-chasing adventures, as memories of home’s consistent rainfall draw them to these ephemeral weather spectacles.
As they parked along a developing mountain road, the first raindrops splattered against the windshield. Exiting the vehicle, Kalliyadan Poil and his companions embraced the sudden downpour.
“We come from a region where rain falls daily,” Kalliyadan Poil remarked. “Feeling the raindrops takes me back to my childhood.” (AP) SKS NPK NPK
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