The United Arab Emirates experienced a rare torrential storm earlier this week, leaving buildings destroyed and at least one person dead.
While it is not uncommon for roads in the UAE to flood during heavier rainfalls – the lack of constant rainfall there meant there was a lack of extensive drainage infrastructure – the recent downpour clocked a record 250mm of precipitation in under 24 hours, the heaviest they’ve seen in 75 years.
The storm eased by late Tuesday (Apr 16), but the UAE is still working at recovering from the aftermath and recovering operations at the Dubai International Airport, which saw flights delayed and diverted.
Local billionaire heiress and beauty mogul Kim Lim, YouTuber Jianhao Tan and his wife Debbie Soon were among the tourists affected by the floods and delays in traffic and flights.
On Wednesday, Kim took to Instagram to recount the experience of being stuck in traffic on the flooded roads of Dubai for eight hours.
“8 hours car ride for what is usually a 25 minute ride. We were supposed to go to the airport but ended up I decided confirm cannot. So I got the car to detour to Armani as it was on the way. We were stuck on the same highway for 6 hours. And GPS keep saying 1 hour for 8 hours. Very crisis (sic),” wrote Kim in her post.
When 8days got in touch with Kim on Thursday, she said: “Actually looking back, it really didn’t feel like eight hours. Or maybe it did at that time. The GPS kept stating one hour to destination, but we were stuck at the same spot for four hours already. We needed to pee after four hours, but had to tahan (hold it in) no choice. Really mind over body.”
“We played music, tried to dance it off a bit, shared the preserved sour plum Debbie had on her because we were a bit hungry. We did not expect the ride to be that long. (It was supposed to be) a maximum 1.5-hour journey even with traffic, so we didn’t eat anything before leaving the hotel. We were thirsty but couldn’t drink water because (we would) need to go to the toilet,” she continued.
Kim was in the car along with five other people, including Jianhao and Debbie, and all of their suitcases.
“I thought everyone could squeeze in my car because it was just one hour. I didn’t know it would end up being eight hours, or that (we would be caught) in this situation. But it’s okay, I’m glad we squeezed. If we didn’t, maybe time would’ve passed slower,” she said.
They spent the journey taking photos, talking and watching people getting out of their cars and walking by the road. According to Kim, many cars were abandoned and the scene looked like something out of a movie.
The group also panicked when the storm got bad.
“At one point, lightning hit quite close or maybe it was so bright, I don’t know. It gave us a shock. We panicked when our car entered high levels of water, we could hear the sound of water going ‘bloop bloop bloop’ and feel the waves pushing the car,” she said.
Their car started to move along to the tide of the water, and they were worried they would hit other cars. “We saw a biker fall because of this,” added Kim, who was truly shaken at that moment.
“The worst feeling was (knowing) there’s nothing we can do to help anyone,” she said.
Kim told us that one of her friends had been stuck in the airport for over 30 hours while waiting for a flight back to Bangkok.
“We received news from the airlines, but the airport still has to settle passengers from the past two days. It will be (tough) as some of the roads are not fixed yet. I think Dubai is just not equipped for heavy, heavy rainfall,” said Kim, who is now staying at the Armani hotel in Burj Khalifa.
She revealed that the hotel is also “all wet” on the inside, and even her room on the sixth floor was not spared.
“Other than that, Dubai is really a nice place lah. No choice, just one of those things. It is what it is. I’m just happy everyone is safe and okay.”
Kim is planning on flying home soon, but is still unsure when that will happen: “Let’s see when it’s less chaotic in the airport.”
This story was originally published in 8days.
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