A Kent woman caught in flood-hit Dubai has recounted the moment the storm struck and she feared she may be stuck in treacherous conditions.
Gemma Hugill, from Allington, near Maidstone, was enjoying a girls’ trip with friends when once-in-a-generation rain fell on the desert city.
Footage shows the luxury capital of the United Arab Emirates being lashed by rain as flash flooding left cars submerged and passengers stranded as roads turned into rivers.
Gemma, 22, told KentOnline: “We’ve just been watching all the trucks come along and suck up all the water but it’s still flooded at the moment.
“We haven’t been able to get out to get food or anything like that.
“After seeing the videos of the airport flooded it did cross my mind that maybe we wouldn’t be able to get home.”
The graphic designer, who works for Faversham-based DayOne Design Studio, said she and her friends had been on a safari tour through the desert at the time the torrential rainfall started.
The 22-year-old explained the trip to Dubai, which had been organised since January, was a girls’ holiday to visit friends she had gone to Arts University Bournemouth with.
Gemma flew out on Friday (April 12) with one of the girls and they were set to stay for eight days before heading back this Saturday.
But the week has not gone exactly to plan.
Instead of ticking off the usual tourist visits to malls, beach clubs and waterparks the four friends have instead found themselves axing plans and wading through knee-high water to seek shelter.
The rainfall, which is the heaviest the city has seen in 75 years, first began on Monday.
Gemma added: “It was a bit cloudy but we thought that was actually quite good because obviously we were out in the desert and we didn’t want it to be scorching hot anyway.
“It did start raining a bit while we were in the car but luckily, it didn’t ruin our trip – it was just nice and cool.”
But the rain continued to batter the Gulf state throughout Monday night, leaving the girls to abandon their beach club plans the next morning and head to Dubai Mall instead.
And from there, chaos ensued.
“When we tried to drive there, all of the roads were flooded and it was just really difficult to get there, “ Gemma added.
“It took us like over an hour because we had to keep finding different routes and we weren’t sure whether the car would make it through the floods or not, but, eventually, we made it.”
They sat down to eat first and then went into the aquarium, but when they came out all the shops had started to flood.
The holidaymaker added: “They were shutting off sections of the mall and advising people to leave because the storm was going to carry on and roads were going to get more flooded.”
Gemma says they headed home but couldn’t get into the community where her friend lives.
“We had to park the car further away, take our shoes off and tread through the water to get to her house.”
According to UAE authorities, up to 259.5mm of rain fell on Tuesday, shutting down the airport, schools and workplaces.
The situation has meant Gemma and her friends have been stuck indoors while they wait for the storm to calm and have had to rearrange plans.
Emergency services are working to clear the waterlogged roadsto assess people trapped in traffic, offices and homes, the BBC reports.
The main road that connects Dubai with Abu Dhabi – the capital of the UAE – was closed in the Abu Dhabi direction.
At Dubai airport, where activity remains severely disrupted, many stranded passengers have taken to social media to urge for more information.
Meanwhile Gemma is hopeful they will be able to do more later on in the week before catching her flight home.
“At first, I was quite stressed out because I was worried that we wouldn’t have time to do everything we wanted to before the holiday but it’s looking like we will we were lucky we had enough spare days,” she added.
Gemma said she has been fortunate to have not lost money while being stuck inside.
“We’re staying with one of my friend’s family so luckily we haven’t had to spend much on accommodation, she added.
“However, the trip has cost a lot so it would have been nice to be able to do more things.
“Obviously, there’s a lot to do in Dubai, so it is a shame we haven’t been able to go out and make the most of it.
“I’m hoping everything will be okay later on in the week.”
