Historic rain floods Dubai airport: Hundreds of flights cancelled
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WHAT HAPPENED: With all roads and runways going under, operations at the Dubai airport have been closed since Tuesday morning. Some flight data recorders had noticed cloud-seeding flights on Sunday, which could have been the reason for the unprecedented downpour, but there was no official confirmation. The UAE at times conducts cloud seeding to replenish the dwindling groundwater.
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DUBAI, Apr 17: The world's busiest Dubai international airport (DXB) came to
a standstill following flash flooding brought by historic storm and rain on
Tuesday. All flights were cancelled or diverted. The situation continued to
be grim even on Wednesday morning.
The torrential downpour and hailstorm inundating Dubai also played havoc across
all of the UAE leading to schools and offices being shut. Nineteen people died
in the past few days.
The rain has stopped but "We are working hard to recover operations as quickly
as possible in very challenging conditions,” an airport spokesperson said on
Wednesday.
Even by late Wednesday the airport and the carriers were still warning
travellers not to come to the airport unless absolutely necessary. All flight
check-in was still suspended.
During 24 hours till Tuesday evening Dubai had received more than 142 millimetres
(5.59 inches) of rainfall. A year's average is 94.7 millimetres (3.73 inches)
of rain at the airport. The rain had started Monday evening.
The State-run WAM news agency called the rain Tuesday "a historic weather event"
that surpassed "anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949."
People were sleeping in the Metro station and the the airport overnight unable
to move in the city that has gone under.
"We advise you NOT to come to the airport, unless absolutely necessary.Flights
continue to be delayed and diverted. Please check your flight status directly
with your airline.We are working hard to recover operations as quickly as possible
in very challenging conditions," the airport said in a tweet on Wednesday.
More than 500 flights were diverted or cancelled due to rains and storms on
Tuesday and the situation continued on Wednesday morning as well.
Twenty eight Indian flights were cancelled on Tuesday alone.
Because of flooding of roads passengers were unable to reach the airport either.
"We're working continuously to restore normal operations, and have also arranged
refreshments for guests currently at the airport, where possible," the airport
said.
"Due to the intense storm, operations at @DXB were temporarily suspended for
25 minutes, but have since recommenced. There is major flooding on roads leading
to the airport and forecasts indicate that the unsettled weather will continue
till tomorrow morning," the DXB had said on Tuesday.
Flydubai and Emirates had announced cancellations of their flights until 10
am on April 17.
Schools across the UAE were closed. Employees were working from home. Flood
water even entered some homes in Dubai. One man died as his car was swept away
in Ras Al Khaimah, one of the country’s seven emirates, police said. Fujairah,
another emirate, had the heaviest rainfall.
There were reports that the UAE conducts cloud seeding to increase its dwindling,
limited groundwater. It is reported that the rain followed six or seven cloud-seeding
flights on Sunday.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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