Dubai International Airport reopens after record-setting rains

The United Arab Emirates’ state-run news agency WAM on Thursday said the airport would resume normal operations on Friday after closing for a series of heavy rains. The airport’s chief operating officer said two of the airport’s terminals have already resumed operations. Dubai International Airport is one of the busiest international airports in the world. Travel data firm OAG recently ranked it the second-busiest airport in the world, second only to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Why did the airport shut down in the first place? The country experienced the heaviest rainfall in a 24-hour period that it had ever recorded this week, WAM reported on Wednesday. On Thursday, dozens of community service patrols in the city of Sharjah were still circulating in areas heavily affected by the rain, the agency reported. Other media reports said roughly five-and-a-half inches of rain fell in Dubai in the 24 hours ending Tuesday evening. The UAE has only recorded rainfall data since 1949.

What other areas are suffering from heavy rains? The UN’s office coordinating relief efforts in Asia and the Pacific said this week that dozens of people had died due to rain, landslides, or severe weather in the countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Indonesia.

Dig deeper: Listen to Onize Ohikere’s World Tour report on The World and Everything in It podcast discussing recent landslides in Indonesia.