A powerful rainstorm that wreaked havoc on the desert nation of the United Arab Emirates last week was likely made more intense because of climate change, a team of international scientists has found. It was the heaviest rain the desert nation has ever recorded, a deluge that flooded out Dubai International Airport and disrupted flights and left four people dead in the UAE.
Flash flooding caused 19 deaths in Oman, including 10 children who died when a school bus was swept away. In the UAE, four people died in cars in floodwaters. As part of its calculations, the WWA usually uses computer modelling to compare a weather event to one in a simulated world without climate change.But the researchers were able to study past observations, the other main tool they use, to determine the 10 to 40 per cent increase in rainfall amounts.
"The direct modelling of this event is less conclusive," he said. More broadly, though, Gillett said research suggests climate change is leading to increasingly extreme rainfall events in the region.The dry desert countries of Oman and the U.A.E. are dealing with the aftermath of deadly flash floods caused by more than one year's worth of rain falling in just 24 hours, which some are attributing to climate change.