Motorists drive along a flooded street following heavy rains in Dubai early on Wednesday. Dubai, the Middle East's financial centre, has been paralysed by the torrential rain that caused floods across the UAE and Bahrain. — AFP A total of nine flights from Dubai to Dhaka were cancelled due to the severe weather conditions in the UAE and the region.
The flights, scheduled from 17 April to 24 April were cancelled, confirmed Group Captain Mohammad Kamrul Islam, executive director of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, report agencies.
The cancelled flights include five flights of Air Arabia Airlines, two each of both Emirates Airlines and FlyDubai Airlines.
Heavy thunderstorms lashed the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, dumping over a year and a half's worth of rain on the desert city-state of Dubai in the span of hours as it flooded out portions of major highways and its international airport, reports AP.
The rains began late Monday, soaking the sands and roadways of Dubai with some 20 millimeters (0.79 inches) of rain, according to meteorological data collected at Dubai International Airport.
Meanwhile AFP report from Dubai adds: Dubai's giant highways were clogged by flooding and airport passengers were urged to stay away on Wednesday as the glitzy financial centre reeled from record rains.
Huge tailbacks snaked along six-lane expressways after up to 254 millimetres of rain -- about two years' worth -- fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.
At least one person was killed after a 70-year-old man was swept away in his car in Ras Al-Khaimah, one of the country's seven emirates, police said.
Passengers were warned not to come to Dubai airport, the world's busiest by international traffic, "unless absolutely necessary", an official said.
"Flights continue to be delayed and diverted... We are working hard to recover operations as quickly as possible in very challenging conditions," a Dubai Airports spokesperson said.
Dubai's flagship Emirates airline cancelled all check-ins on Wednesday as staff and passengers struggled to arrive and leave, with access roads flooded and some metro services suspended.
At the airport, long taxi queues formed and delayed passengers milled around. Scores of flights were also delayed, cancelled and diverted during Tuesday's torrential rain.
The storms hit the UAE and Bahrain overnight Monday and on Tuesday after lashing Oman, where 18 people were killed, including several children.
Climatologist Friederike Otto, a specialist in assessing the role of climate change on extreme weather events, told AFP it was "high likely" that global warming had worsened the storms.
Official media said it was the highest rainfall since records began in 1949, before the formation of the UAE in 1971.
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