The desert nation of UAE records its most rain ever, flooding highways and Dubai’s airport WFTV [Video]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — (AP) — The United Arab Emirates attempted to dry out Wednesday from the heaviest rain the desert nation has ever recorded — a deluge that flooded out Dubai International Airport and disrupted flights through the world’s busiest airfield for international travel.

The state-run WAM news agency called the rain Tuesday “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.” That’s before crude oil was discovered in this energy-rich nation then part of a British protectorate known as the Trucial States.

Rain also fell in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but was acute across the UAE.

The flooding sparked speculation that cloud seeding — flying small planes through clouds dispersing chemicals aimed at getting rain to fall — may have contributed to the deluge. But experts said the storm systems that produced the rain were forecast well in advance and that cloud seeding alone would not have caused such flooding.

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