Dubai plans to spend the equivalent of $8.2 billion to build a stormwater drainage network, the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced on June 24. The work comes after record storms in April caused damaging flooding in the United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai.
The infrastructure would increase Dubai’s rainwater drainage capacity by 700% to 20 million cubic meters per day, according to officials. Part of the project will involve the drilling of tunnels with a flow capacity of 230 m3 per second.
Sheikh Mohammed ordered Dubai Municipality to start implementing the project immediately. Work in phases is expected to be completed by 2033.
The project is “ensuring the emirate’s preparedness to face future climate-related challenges” over the next 100 years, it said in a statement.
The storms on April 16 brought the highest volume of rain seen in the UAE since record-keeping began in 1949. While most of the country averages between 5.5 inches and 7.9 inches of rain per year, the UAE National Meteorological Center reported that some areas saw more than 10 inches of rain during the storms. At least four people were killed, although the UAE government has not released official figures.
the UAE typically sees so little rain that the National Meteorological Center conducts cloud seeding to try to boost rainfall, although the agency noted that it did not do any cloud seeding before the April storms . Cloud seeding involves adding certain types of particles to existing clouds to form ice crystals that will produce more precipitation.
Diana Francis, senior research scientist and head of the Environmental and Geophysical Sciences Laboratory at Khalifa University, told the government-owned Emirates New Agency in April that the UAE will face more extreme weather events frequent and intense due to climate change.
“The amount of rain that fell on the 16th is unprecedented and is equivalent to the amount of rain that the UAE receives in two years,” Francis said.
Dubai officials said the stormwater project aims to address the expected increase in rainfall associated with climate change. It would expand work that began after the floods in 2019. Dubai then added drainage infrastructure to the Expo Dubai area, Jebel Ali and Al Maktoum International Airport City, where Dubai plans to build the world’s largest airport as part of a $35 billion. project announced this year.
