UAE battles floods as cloud seeding brings highest rainfall in 75 years 

Cloud seeding went horribly wrong for the UAE as torrential rains brought widespread flooding across the desert nation, forcing schools and flight operations to be suspended temporarily on April 16.

The parched Gulf nation has been taking advantage of artificial rain since 2002 to address water security issues and boost agriculture. But in the past 24 hours, the excessive rainfall has wreaked havoc, with people sharing updates on social media on the aftermath of the weather.

The UAE weather agency said that the country has received its highest rainfall in 75 years.

“The UAE witnessed the largest amount of rainfall during the past 75 years. The Khatm al-Shakla area in (city of) Al Ain witnessed 254.8 mm of precipitation in less than 24 hours, thus marking an exceptional event in the country’s climatic history,” the National Center of Meteorology (NCM) posted on X.

Clips doing the rounds on social media showed Dubai roads turning into a swimming pool, while another one showed a plane wading through inundated tarmac at Dubai International Airport.

Locals are blaming cloud seeding and artificial rainfall for the harsh weather conditions in Dubai.

Meanwhile, the UAE government has issued warnings ahead of the heavy rains, asking people to stay at home and only leave “in cases of extreme necessity." It later extended remote working until Wednesday for all federal employees.

On Tuesday, the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) has issued a weather ‘advisory’ that “the country will experience convective clouds over coastal areas moving towards Eastern and Western regions associated with rainfall of different intensities, accompanied by lightning and thunder, and a probability of hail in some areas.”