In the past two days, the desert city of Dubai has been flooded.

On the morning of April 16, passengers who landed in Dubai looked out of the plane windows and thought they had made an emergency landing at sea. This was basically the case. The apron of Dubai International Airport, which was recently rated as the "second busiest airport in the world", was completely flooded: shuttle buses were half submerged in water, large passenger planes were struggling to glide in the water like stranded cruise ships, and the airflow from the propellers stirred up huge splashes of speedboats.

Dubai airport; picture source from the Internet

The heavy rain that lasted all day turned the desert city of Dubai into a big pond. At the famous local large shopping mall Mall of the Emirates, rain rushed into the store like a waterfall, washing the ceiling and goods onto the aisles. The water outside was knee-deep, and the streets became rivers. Only SUVs shuttled back and forth like speedboats. Many luxury cars parked on the street were either soaked or completely submerged, and netizens said that "it was heartbreaking to see it."

Streets of Dubai; image source from the Internet

Even on the "road to survival" to the hotel, some group members took photos of people swimming on the street...

Swimming on the streets of Dubai; Image source: Internet

In recent days, in order to participate in the annual Token2049 event of the blockchain and Web3 industry, many practitioners in the crypto industry booked tickets to Dubai immediately after finishing their activities in Hong Kong and Japan, preparing to experience a luxurious trip after attending the conference. Unexpectedly, it was such a desert sea-viewing feast that had not been seen for decades that allowed these Chinese people to catch up accurately.

The desert turned into the sea, and two years of rain fell in one day

Dubai, which has little rain all year round, was hit by heavy rain yesterday. According to the local meteorological office (Dubai Meteorological Office), the cumulative rainfall in the local area within 24 hours from 10 pm on the 15th to 10 pm on the 16th reached 6.26 inches (about 15.9 centimeters). According to the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the average annual rainfall in Dubai is 3.12 inches (about 7.9 centimeters), which is equivalent to two years of rainfall in one day.

UAE precipitation weather map; source from X

Since then, the National Meteorological Center announced that the UAE had experienced the heaviest rainfall in 75 years, with 254.8 mm of rain falling in less than 24 hours in the "Khatm al-Shakla" area of ​​Al Ain. Every time it rains in the UAE, Al Ain is always the most affected area; in February this year, most parts of the UAE also suffered severe rainstorms and floods as well as hail.

Staying in a luxury hotel turned into going to Dubai to fight floods

"When I first arrived at the hotel, the front desk said there would be a fountain show in the afternoon, but I didn't expect it to be spraying from the sky," Wang Shang (pseudonym), a participant staying at the Burj Khalifa, told BlockBeats. Wang Shang landed in Dubai on the afternoon of the 15th, and everything went smoothly until he checked into the hotel, but by the evening, the entire Dubai was basically in a state where he couldn't go out.

In the hotel restaurant and lobby, staff lined up with mops, trying to push the water out of the room. Eventually, there was no other way, so the hotel manager brought in towels and blankets to block all the entrances to the hotel. The water was not only on the first floor, but also on the shopping malls and restaurants on the upper floors. The staff sealed off the scene with seals, and passers-by waded through the water.

Waterlogging in the hotel and shopping mall lobbies; BlockBeats reporter filmed on site

But the rainstorm continued, and at night, many people found that the roof of the hotel they were staying in had leaks, and the accumulated water seeped down from the edges of ceiling lights, cameras and other facilities. In some rooms, even the ceilings on the walls collapsed. BlockBeats learned from many participants in Dubai that the roof of the Atlantis Hotel on Palm Island had partially collapsed.

Water leakage occurred in the hotel; BlockBeats reporter filmed on the spot

Due to heavy rain, many buildings' indoor equipment was flooded and could not function properly. On April 16, the Hilton Garden Inn in the Mall of the Emirates posted a notice to travelers, saying that due to weather conditions, the hotel would suspend the use of water supply and air conditioning systems to ensure the safety of travelers. In addition, due to the continued lack of transportation in the next two to three days, the hotel also reminded travelers to pay attention to the food and beverages they consume......

Hilton Garden Hotel lobby notice; source from the Internet

Those who have food security are considered to be in a good situation, but those trapped on the Palm Island are in a worse situation. Since the land transportation capacity of this artificial island and downtown Dubai is very limited, the Palm Island is currently basically in a state of "isolation and helplessness". BlockBeats learned that some of the participants' hotels and houses had power outages, and many people could not even get food.

And because there is sea all around, some hotel lobbies even have sharks swimming into them...

Left: Aerial view of Palm Island, right: Hotel lobby in Palm Island area; pictures from the Internet

Those who arrived are stuck at the airport, and those who didn't arrive are stuck on the plane

The worst off are those who are already on their way to Dubai but are still unaware of the situation.

In the evening, the airport and its surroundings were already in sea-viewing mode, but because some of the transport capacity that arrived in the afternoon was still available, passengers arriving in Dubai on the evening of April 15 could still take some of the transport capacity to escape the airport. From the arrival gate to the airport highway, dozens of Ubers rushed in a row, just like the Normandy landings. There was also a bus that was stranded in the water and failed to land, so the staff and passengers got off and pushed it away.

Traffic conditions outside the airport; image source from the Internet

Passengers who arrived in Dubai on the morning of the 16th were not so lucky. In addition to the sea of ​​people on the tarmac, they also had to face the sea of ​​people in the departure and arrival halls. BlockBeats learned that due to the lack of transportation capacity, many passengers who had just arrived at the airport could not get a car and were trapped at the airport. A participant who successfully took an Uber told BlockBeats that the current price from the airport to downtown Dubai is three times the usual price. "There are many cars, just take a taxi regardless of the price."

Dubai Airport Arrival Hall; Image provided by netizens

In addition to being stuck at Dubai Airport, many passengers arriving on the 16th will also encounter another situation, that is, waking up to find themselves in another city. According to BlockBeats, due to weather reasons, many flights choose to land in Doha, Riyadh, Muscat and other places, but this does not mean that they have escaped the disaster.

Because too many planes landed in these cities temporarily, the airport shuttles and other transportation capacity were completely saturated and unable to transport passengers from the plane to the terminal. "I have been on the plane for 20 hours and now I just want to fly back to my country," participant Vincy told BlockBeats. So far, she is still sitting on the plane and has not even had a meal. Vincy has landed because there are too many flights and some flights are even waiting in line to land. Group members reported that "in order to make an emergency landing, we circled more than 100 times in the sky."

The route map displayed on the aircraft screen; the image is provided by netizens

The hottest conference in the industry, no one in the audience

The participants were trapped, and the conference itself was also seriously affected. Token2049 has always been the hottest annual conference in the blockchain and Web3 industry. Many institutions and project teams hope to meet ideal investment targets and partners here, but this year's Token2049 in Dubai was particularly miserable. On April 15, due to heavy rain and the fact that many participants had not yet arrived in Dubai, there was basically no one in the large conference hall except for a few guests who were sharing on the stage.

Token2049 venue; BlockBeats reporter took photos on site

Token2049 is not the only industry conference held in Dubai recently. The Middle East Coatings Exhibition held in Dubai recently was also affected. According to BlockBeats, the exhibition began to clear out the attendees at around 4 pm on the 15th for safety reasons. "They said that the equipment was flooded and if we didn't leave, it would be flooded," Su, who attended the coatings exhibition, told BlockBeats that he could already smell a burning smell at the scene.

But extreme weather cannot stop crypto people from being eager to attend the conference. BlockBeats learned that many participants who successfully "landed" in Hadow and Riyadh have organized "branch venue activities" of Token2049 in the local area, and many local activity groups have dozens of participants.

Dubai, which has no drainage system, will be flooded for a few more days

The main reason for this survival in the desert is Dubai’s extremely poor drainage system, or rather, there is no drainage system at all.

As a desert city, Dubai can count the number of days it rains each year, so it is not cost-effective to build a large-scale drainage system. In addition, Dubai is located at sea level, and digging a little will reach the groundwater level, and the choice of reservoirs is limited. Cleaning and maintaining the sand in pipes and reservoirs is also very expensive. After each rain, the accumulated water is either evaporated by the sun for 180 days or directly pumped out by municipal workers driving pump trucks.

How Dubai's drainage system works: water is pumped manually and transported by trucks; Image source: Dubai Municipality

In fact, Dubai is not really without a drainage system. Dubai built a drainage system when it hosted the World Expo. It has a total length of 1.75 million meters of drainage tunnels, 60 rainwater pumping stations and 72,000 drainage holes along the network. Rainwater can be discharged directly into the sea or Dubai Creek through 28 outlets. However, small-scale precipitation can be controlled, but this rainstorm disaster, which has not been experienced for more than half a century, paralyzed the drainage method that was used in the past.

According to the notice issued by Dubai local authorities, due to the lack of drainage systems, the flooding of the entire city may continue for a few more days, during which time the participants may gain more abstract life experiences. However, most of the cryptocurrency circle participants did not dislike the heavy rain, "water brings wealth, this is overwhelming wealth."