The storm comes just two weeks after record-setting rainfall triggered damaging floods in several parts of the country and neighboring Oman, which killed at least four people in the UAE and ground the bustling city of Dubai to a halt.
The floods also killed at least 19 others in Oman, including 10 children whose school bus was swept away in the deluge, CNN reported.
The rainfall was not as heavy as the event two weeks ago, but Dubai experienced 20 millimeters in 12 hours, more than twice what it usually receives over the months of April and May combined. Abu Dhabi saw 34 mm in 24 hours, more than four times what it would usually see over April and May.
Authorities ordered remote working and studying in affected areas on Thursday and Friday. Roads to valley areas prone to flooding were closed off, while people were asked to stay away from mountainous, desert and sea areas.
Scientists linked the record rainfall that hit the UAE and Oman two weeks ago to climate change. A team of 21 scientists and researchers, under the World Weather Attribution initiative, found that climate change was making extreme rainfall events in the two countries — which typically fall during El Niño years — between 10 and 40% more intense than they would have been without global warming.
Over a period of less than 24 hours during that event, the UAE experienced its heaviest rainfall in since records began 75 years ago. Dubai experienced the equivalent of more than a year and a half’s worth of rain in that time.
SD/PR