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LAST UPDATE | 17 Apr 2024
IRISH PEOPLE ARE among those impacted by severe flooding and flight disruptions in Dubai as the city experiences record levels of rainfall.
Up to 259.5 millimetres (10.2 inches) of rain, the most since records began 75 years ago, fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.
Many properties have been flooded, and people have been advised to avoid Dubai International Airport amid flight cancellations and delays.
At least one person has died. A 70-year-old man was swept away in his car in Ras Al-Khaimah, one of the country’s seven emirates, police said.
Several flights at Dubai airport, the world’s busiest hub for international travel, have been cancelled, severely delayed or diverted.
An Irish man currently waiting for a flight from Dubai to Dublin said the airport has “descended into chaos”.
He told The Journal that large queues are not moving and “shouting matches” have started to break out as frustrations rise.
Dublin flights to and from Dubai have been delayed, some by several hours, Dublin Airport has said. The latest updates can be viewed here.
#Dubai Airport you have never ever seen. 👀
— Shen Shiwei 沈诗伟 (@shen_shiwei) April 17, 2024
pic.twitter.com/sth4X6IrzG
An earlier statement from Dubai International Airport said passengers should not attend “unless absolutely necessary”. Poeple have been advised to check the status of their flight with the relevant airline.
“We are working hard to recover operations as quickly as possible in very challenging conditions,” the statement added.
Irish woman Amanda Gavin described the flooding as “catastrophic”.
Gavin, who has been living in Dubai for 11 years, told RTÉ’s News at One the “whole city went black” yesterday before the torrential rain began.
She said Dubai’s infrastructure could not handle the sheer amount of rainfall.
We had flooding in our villa, the whole top floor flooded because the drains got blocked.
She said it was a case of “trying to keep the water at bay” to stop it “destroying the whole house.”
A lot of properties including her own home were damaged, she added.
The state-run WAM news agency called Tuesday’s rain “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949″.
Most schools across the UAE shut ahead of the storm, and employees largely worked remotely where possible.
The heavy rain descended on the UAE, Bahrain and parts of Qatar after hitting Oman, where it caused deadly floods and left dozens stranded. At least 18 people died after the floods in Oman.
Contains reporting from Eimer McAuley, Press Association and © AFP 2024
Unsure of what exactly is happening with the earth’s climate? Check out our new FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to finding good information online.
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fair play Bob. massive respect.
“Were people dying in the United States, in France, and in Germany and in England”.
Yet when people were dying in Northern Ireland, “Sir” Bob was happy to pal around and accept titles from Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative nutters.
you begrudging good-for-nothing. You’re not fit to walk in his shadow. What have you ever done for mankind except begrudge those who try to do something worthwhile?
Sir Bob is a dude! he’s been witness to a lot of tragedy including personal tragedy and he just keeps plugging away. With his money he could easily fade into the background and live a handy life but he chooses to campaign and raise money. Some man for one man!
Eh… just Bob… not a real sir….
Brian,
People call him ‘Sir Bob’ as a nickname because he got some kind of knighthood – KBE, I think – from the queen.
If you were pedantic though, you could technically say ‘he’s not actually Sir Bob’.
And if you knew what you were talking about you’d know he received an honoury knighthood… just like Tony o Reilly. … you also know that they are given to non UK or commonwealth people and that the title Sir does not go along with it…. I doubt very much Geldof refers to himself as sir just the wannabe idiots spouting on about it
Yes, a KBE …and we call him Sir Bob because it’s his nickname.
Don’t worry about it anyway, Brian – that’s the main thing.
Well put Elaine
Ah, come off it, Journal. My comment was fair comment. Why delete it?
All I said was, if he focused on his own immediate family instead of trying to save the world, would both he, and they by extension, be better off?
He said as much himself ffs.
If your focus was eleswhere we would all be better off Niall
Why would he need to be “focusing” on a grown adult daughter who has a husband to look after he and plenty of money?
@niall I imagine he’s the kind of guy who looks at the bigger picture not his immediate personal issues. And to be fair what can he do when his grown up married children do drugs in secret? The world as a whole is better off with Sir Bob doing what he does!
Well, Neal, his now tragically deceased daughter is on the record as saying – to paraphrase – he never bothered much with the grand kids.
….its another case of bob the builder so…….Leave it to bob we don’t have to think for ourselves or consider inacting anything he proposes…he is saying that ending these constructed paradigms that a billion people face today is possible and within reach….Elaine…..is there something that you could manifest to carry his words or is the blade on his sholder just a division of power?
So what? You don’t have to bother with your grand kids, they’re your kid’s responsibility.
That’s true. So by your logic …..he certainly doesn’t have to bother with aids.
No I don’t suppose there is but at least you can sit back behind one of your latest anonymous profiles and feel really super intelligent after that comment. So I guess in a roundabout way I helped one person today…. No need to thank me ;)
I don’t know why he is attacking Australians as the video says.
They topped the World Giving Index a few years ago, while he dodges his tax in Britain.
I would have though with his life experiences and all his millions and all the good advice he dishes out he’d have made his family and home bomb proof before saving the world. If anyone could have saved that child from her self he could.
Bob should marry Sinead O Connor —- they both are so alike it’s uncanny, between the 2 of them they could save a lot of people. If they need any more help good old Bono could save the day. We are lucky in Ireland to have the 3 of them — they seem to know everything and know how everything should be done. Did they go to the same school or are they just typical Irish People ? They could be called the Holy Trinity or I can’t think of an appropriate neme just now.
Peaches was lucky she had sterile needles twitch or no twitch. Would the 100 experts or so who perished on the Malaysian flight consider their work as you can do this shit!!!!
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