Dubai airport chaos after Gulf storms | BBC News 

Spent 35 hours at dubai airport. First flight on tuesday night was cancelled. The worst part was the lack of communication. No emirates staff on any gates. Delaying flight times multiple times then cancelling them. Then to book on a new flight you had to que up in unmanned que which took me 10 hours. No organization so people were pushing in, the bodies made it so hot people were passing out, people called for medics and the only help came from other passengers. Fights broke out. It was carnage. Their crisis management needs a overhaul. To treat paying customers like that was horrific. Vouchers for the worst outlets in the airport (and only selected meals/dishes), doesnt cut it. Finally made it home, 5 days later.

100% back to capacity?! Are you kidding me?! My brother's flight is cancelled again. He has been stuck there for 3 days.

The CEO of Dubai airport is totally lying about taking care of food,water & accommodation. I was stranded there for 3 days for connecting Emrites flight from Nepal to LHR. I’ve not seen a single Dubai airport staff approaching passanger handing out food voucher especially to those migrants worker from South Asia who cannot speak for themselves & cannot afford to eat at airport restaurants. I cannot describe here how much people were struggling in every way even those who look rich,let alone those naive migrant,workers who had a transit via Dubai. 😢

they invested in cloud seeding but forgot the drainage system, lol

My mother is stuck in the airport for three days, no food , no accommodation provided, no information of flights, rude staff, useless airport management and CEO. Don’t ever transit through Dubai airport and Emirates. They doesn’t know the basic disaster management. Shame on them.

Worse thing is that staying in Dubai is very expensive. So those stuck will learn a big lesson when traveling.

No communication at all! We have to buy a new ticket to change airline for flying back! We don’t know if we can get our disappeared ticket refunded and it’s a return ticket so have no idea if the ticket of returning will be working in 6 days? No information, hotline busy busy! Totally disappointed with Emirates 💔

I was there yesterday and today. There was no Controlling, no Management and thousends of confused Passengers. It was inhuman How the Personal react. Never come again. It was pure luck bering Home today.

My poor brother has been stuck there for 2 days...

This is the TRUE test of the architecture & interior design of an airport.

Just dropped my son off at the airport, he's off to Dubai. There was a nine hour delay, his flight from Newcastle was meant to be at 2pm today! He lives in Australia!

Flight to UK changed 5 times so far so how do we know when it is final confirmation? Unable to rebook flight to another date so had to buy another flight instead of flying into this chaos! No communication on Dubai airport website nor on Emirates, call centre not picking up, complete fail. Airline and airport MIA…

These guys are big liars!!!! My family is starving there from last 2 days and they’re not even allowed to leave the airport like wtf

Dubai will be the first underwater city in the whole world

I lost my luggage.. total chaos at JNB Airport 3 flights of emirates cancelled in a row

April 19. Flights are cancelling. 72 hours. I'm surprised the rain can ruin DXB's image so bad...

The Dubai airport CEO doesn't look like he is anywhere near Dubai airport. This is just PR

What a load of rubbish!! It was absolute chaos and the staff were not interested nor was . there ANY efforts made to supervise the queues. ANYONE who says anything contrary to this was not in the Thurs 12 hour queue we were in at terminal 3 connections desk were at times there was NO staff with the people chanting "where are the staff". The CEO and his senior staff should all be sacked as I'm confident that there will be like me many hundreds of people who will never fly with Emirates again. Indeed I doubt if I will ever visit Dubai again. Emirates were very lucky not to have any fatalities as the scenes were like the crushing disasters we often see on TV.

That ceo of the airport is doing a zoom call from his car…hehhe

My mum whose 60 has been stuck in transit since yesterday there is no communication, she finds the staff very rude and unhelpful. She’s elderly and spent the night on the floor. No means of contacting emirates or any communication from them regarding their plan of action. As a family this has been a very distressing time for us and they has clearly been no crisis management esp in terms of communication!!!

P.s he got a £8 voucher to spend at the airport as compensation. Greggs etc, however the shops are closed!

My family live in Dubai. The pictures they sent were extremely shocking. Apartments on the 50th floor, flooded. 3 years of rainfall in the UAE, in a single day. It reached 255mm in less than 24 hours, which means the rainfall for one day in Dubai was the equivalent to more than 5 months of continuous rain in London. For a country not used to rain, this was insane.

People in the airport are getting no answers. Even if you book a ticket the flight gets cancelled

Sorry to hear that, I hope everything will be ok. God bless you all. ❤ Dubai

Amidst the glitz and glammour, Dubai is so unprepared and did not have a crisis plan in place. They believe it will never happen to them, but it did and it will happen again.

My sympathies to those stuck at airport or in hotels in Dubai. Emirates should stop bring further international passengers from their first departure airport instead of bringing them to Dubai and keeping them here in Transit for days. I am sure Emirates and Dubai Airport authorities are doing their best to cope with the extra ordinary situation. I have been living here since 2001 and never witnessed such an extra ordinary rainfall. As far as the gentleman waiting in Riyadh is concerned, he can take a bus and travel to Dubai in less then 18 hours.

That’s what happen when you literally play mincraft instead of reality

Ceo not telling the truth. My son was stuck without food or water for 2 days, eventually got a ticket and now he is without his lugguage which according to them just went missing. So truth is no communication, food, water or information/ communication.

This is catastrophe .

Perhaps they should plan for more of this type of weather in the future? Upgrade drainage systems and such.

My wife's still stuck at the airport, what a lack of planning and communication. 2 Days later after 24 hour flight and we still can't confirm a flight out. Where looking at the roads and they are fine so get on with it

Not possible to drink or eat 😩😰

Why not the CEO just admits this is a disaster and it’s no body fault.. do not look stupid liar and say it will take long time to clear the backlog leave alone the normal booked flights.

This is not accurate. We were stuck there since Tuesday 16th and the trauma and chaos we had to go through is unbearable. Finding managed to get back to London on Friday 19th but all our luggage are still missing

It may be frustrating we should keep in mind that Emirati cities are not built for the rain There are no drains where water can go and it would be too expensive to build those considering that rain barely happens.

Mother nature is someone you don't meddle with..it will calm down n Dubai prepare 4 future..

We were stuck for three days at Dubai on way to Houston without food by Emeitus airlines, very rude behavior by staff

Basically Dubai is a glitzy "heaven" on the outside but it really is a cesspool on the inside. 🤣🤣

Now - who is there at Dubai airport- what’s the real truth? I went to Sharjah roads tonight - still flooded near the canal, and my flight back to London is on Saturday - online checkin is open but I hear flights are still being cancelled…

The ceo is either a liar or a deluded fool I was abandoned at thailand and they are not answering phone lines or messages the also are not accepting duty of care no help at all worst customer care ever

Reopens to float planes?

Dubai...look very very nice on the outside but not built for simple natural calamity such as flood..😅😅

Regardless of all this news, having this unprecedented storm (since 75 years ago!) with only one death is considered exceptional for the UAE and Dubai government. It shows how resilient the UAE is and also a learning lesson for them to improve for the future. Hats off to them! My condolences to the family of the deceased but I’m thankful people are safe. Being delayed for a flight with food and shelter is a thousand times better than losing a loved one.

And don't even give the people nothin ie water beds food people are stuck in airport that most people can't afford the stuff in it

And rivers will flow through the desert…

Reading the comments, the reactions are quite interesting. Theres a couple of things I think we should all be mindful of: 1. This was an extraordinary event. It's literally a 1 in 75 year event. As in, it has only happened once in 75 years. Any country would have been ill-prepared for this. The equivalent of this would be a tornado in the UK - very rare and very unlikely and equally, they would be ill prepared because it is an extraordinary event. 2. While it is understandable that passengers and their families are frustrated, I think it is a bit unreasonable to expect normal services to be restored in half an hour for an EXTRAORDINARY event. The UAE government has to deal with this event from various angles and not just air travel: healthcare services must be restored, roads and rail, trapped people, electricity supply, water supply, residents of the country, etc. I think that getting to your travel destination a couple of days late is a fairly good outcome for a 1 in 75 year event. 3. I feel that it is quite unfair to come to the conclusion that the airport and airline staff are not doing their jobs because flights have been delayed/cancelled and some inconvenience has been suffered. In fact it is more likely that the staff are overwhelmed and working around the clock to try and rectify the EXTRAORDINARY situation and have probably even not seen a wink of sleep for God knows how long. The alternative (and I'm being quite rash saying this) would have been to allow all the passengers to board their flights in the dangerous weather and hope for the best. 4. I think that if you are alive and well (even at the airport), then you are in a pretty good place already - take it easy - it will pass soon. Others have lost lives and livelihoods.

Water is trying to gain back it's territory 😮

Well that is depressing.

The unprecedented nature of rain and flash floods needs time to revive to normal. Cannot blame anyone for it.

God is great. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

How did the reporter 'arrive in Dubai yesterday' if the airport was closed?

*Some of the claims of that CEO r actualy wrong,we r stuck here since last 40hours n thr was not at all clear updates abt the status of flights.before departing the hotel we checked 100s of times n it was showing flight z on time after arriving airport we find it sm abandoned place thr was not even one single person or annoucment to guide passengers.all the shops ran out of food we wd 3little kids spent whole night sitting on floor n chairs n gona spend 2nd night again same.spending whole day in queue whr no one was giving any information.jst dying to get back home(London).*

More than 700 cancelled flights?! That's horrible! :(

perhaps they can create drainage where the rains will be collected into their dams.. like in asia ...we depend on rains for water supply .. i think rains is a blessing specially in the middle east

Dubai government has artificially created rain using cloud seeding technology

It's strange to see extreme storms around hot areas and drought over the rainy areas

well they always complaining about water... there you have it lots of it 😝😝

Luxury literally became trash overnight.

That will teach them a lesson not to seed the clouds.

How was Qatar flooding 17th April??

Thanking for sharning this video with us.

Looks like a normal railway station in India

What kind of sewrage system, the authorities and rular of Dubai foresaw when Dubai was developed since last 2 decades? I was one of the members of Dubai Tourism and commerce board, promoting Dubai as destination world-wide in early 90's. Even the human poop has been taken every day in trucks. Messed up sewerage system of Dubai. It's hard and impossible now to have good water drainage system built from ground zero. The cities of UAE will continue to have this massive damage every 3rd month. Real estate markets will take a nose dive soon!

It's deadly flood , may God protect everyone. 🙏

We pray for Dubai and stuck travellers in Airport... come Normal situations... please pray for all... Wakeup all❤❤

May God keep everyone safe there. Let us all pray for each other.

My father's flight is cancelled again😭😭

Absolute lie. My Wife and two kids 2 and 5 are stuck there and there is no information about their flight which here appears to cancelled when i checked status. Absolutely rubbish

Such an absolute mess zero communication or update form the airline for over 24hrs unbelievable!! emirates staff nowhere to be seen and barely any information from dbx staff either, worst crisis management and customer service and ZERO communication from emirates wtf 🤬 Barely a water bottle provided in this whole time , no meals! hundreds of dollars extra at your own expense We want a refund and compensation for this ordeal !!!

0:32 is this a Tesla wtf? 😂

Sad news , may the souls rest in peace , condolences to the families of the dead. 🙏

No luggage 3 days ago

damage comtrol 😂😂😂😂😂

So true 😢😢very sad situation

They filmed this in Toronto?

Dubai isn't the biggest airport on the globe in terms of International pax. It's Atlanta. Since years.

We where in the queue for 11 hours without food struggling to getting our boarding passes Total chaos and mismanagement

They can build cities in the middle of Persian Gulf, but can’t build a simple drainage system?🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️

We are stuck in Bali and emirates officials to be seen no flight till 24

Soon they will be able to organize the swimming Olympics

They need to create world’s biggest drainage system now after building

Feel so sorry for the people who are suffering

Seems to be a regular extreme weather event once again through Atmospheric rivers and globally

01:08 BBC, supposedly one of the largest news broadcasting channels out there and this is what they're showing. fantastic.

I hope people never forget this horrible experience in Dubai - all glitter and no substance . They don't care for their customers .

meanwhile in the philippines no single rain ..

The airport was open over 24 hours ago..... Antonov transport flew in prior to midnight......

All areas in dubai on soaking and sweeps all cities on gulf countries

Dubai: Seeds clouds Also Dubai: Slavery good! Also also Dubai: Wherever did all this water come from!? 😮

CEO providing a very rosy picture here to avoid losses. Couple of my friends are flying to Dubai today thinking everything is back up. It’s important to give a true picture.

Emirates airlines unprofessional Unhuman there is no guidance no information no support no food and Water, I am coming from USA, I'm stuck in Dubai for 2 days they cancelled my flight 18 times and delays 23 hours I reach my destination without my baggages. Emirates airlines will take 3 more days to find my baggages. Kindly my advice don't use Emirates airlines it's nightmare.

Seeing that the UAE is SO proud of their artificial rain creation...It seems that someones science experiment went wrong! 😮

It's that placement that left deserts long long long time ago to create ice shields and glaciers on top notch tip south now dissolving into atmosphere layers and getting trapped and theses days we have more everywhere and are gine have way more entrapment which will get squized in layers to produce waterfalls and wind will help. Techncally it's a abundance of atomic levels transformed and placed. Those deserts used used to be jungles and seas.

Lots of complaints here. That is a natural disaster. We couldn’t control what would happen. My son my wife my daughter blah blah 😢 . You have to understand that the world conditions have significantly changed due to the global warming.

Any country when hit with natural calamity , the same will happen. If it is snow or rain. It’s great they came back so quickly is extraordinary

I Love Dubai ❤❤❤ pls God protect all tiing and I will come tomorrow hope no cancellation there ❤

Never ever go to dubai airport

My mom waiting 72 hours in the Dubai airport for her flight. She's still waiting don't know for how long though

OMG

These floods have caused alot of devastation in many parts of the globe such as our country Malawi.