The United Arab Emirates announced $544 million to repair the homes of Emirati families on Wednesday after last week\u2019s record-breaking rains caused widespread flooding and brought the oil-rich Gulf state to a standstill. \u201cWe learned great lessons in dealing with severe rains,\u201d said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum after a cabinet meeting, adding that ministers approved \u201ctwo billion dirhams to deal with damage to the homes of citizens\u201d. Wednesday\u2019s announcement comes more than a week after the unprecedented deluge lashed the desert country, where it turned streets into rivers and hobbled Dubai Airport, the world\u2019s busiest for international passengers. \u201cA ministerial committee was assigned to follow up on this file [\u2026] and disburse compensation in cooperation with the rest of the federal and local authorities,\u201d said Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the ruler of Dubai, which was one of the worst hit of the UAE\u2019s seven sheikhdoms. The rainfall, the UAE\u2019s heaviest since records began 75 years ago, killed at least four people, including three Filipino workers and one Emirati. UAE authorities have not released an official toll. Cabinet ministers also formed a second committee to log infrastructure damage and propose solutions, Sheikh Mohammed said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. \u201cThe situation was unprecedented in its severity but we are a country that learns from every experience,\u201d he said. The storm \u2014 which dumped up to two years\u2019 worth of rain on the UAE, a federal monarchy with a 90 per cent expatriate population \u2014 had subsided by last Wednesday. But the glam hub of Dubai touted as a picture-perfect city, faced severe disruption for days later, with water-clogged roads and flooded homes. Dubai Airport cancelled 2,155 flights, diverted 115 and did not return to full capacity until Tuesday. \u201cWe must acknowledge [\u2026] that there has been an unreasonable and unacceptable deficiency and collapse in services and crisis management,\u201d prominent Emirati analyst Abdulkhaleq Abdulla said on Wednesday on X. \u201cWe hope that this will not be repeated in the future,\u201d he added, in a rare public rebuke. Climatologist Friederike Otto, a specialist in assessing the role of global warming on extreme weather events, told AFP it was \u201chighly likely\u201d that the rainfall \u201cwas made heavier by human-caused climate change\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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