Four dead in UAE, Dubai airport still disrupted after storm

DUBAI: Deaths from heavy rains earlier this week in the United Arab Emirates rose to four, authorities said on Friday, as well as flooding roads and jamming Dubai’s international airport.

The storm first hit Oman at the weekend, killing at least 20 people, before pounding the UAE on Tuesday with its heaviest rains in 75 years of records.

Two Philippine women and one man died in their vehicles during flooding, the government in Manila said. An Emirati man in his 70s had also died when his vehicle was swept away by floods in the northern Ras Al Khaimah emirate.

Dubai International Airport, one of the world’s busiest and a hub for travel around the Middle East, was still struggling to clear a backlog of flights three days after the storm.

It was limiting arrivals for two days until Sunday.

Flagship carrier Emirates, one of the world’s biggest international airlines, said check-in was suspended for people planning to transit via Dubai though those with the city as a final destination could travel as usual.