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Heavy rains and rising sea levels
Thursday April 18, 2024, by Manuel Marchal
Collapsed roads, submerged highways, flooded housing estates, Dubai yesterday displayed a landscape of desolation following an exceptional climatic event: 2 years of rain in 24 hours. Elsewhere in the Gulf, the damage was just as significant and 18 deaths were reported in Oman. This phenomenon reminds us of the importance in Reunion Island of stopping all construction on the coast and immediately launching a vast plan to protect people who cannot be evacuated in the face of rising sea levels.
Dubai is a place that attracts many rich people thanks to favorable taxation. In just a few decades, a megacity was built, with the tallest tower in the world at over 800 meters.
Luxury housing estates have sprung up and have even been built on land reclaimed from the sea.
Money is not enough in the face of the climate crisis
But yesterday, it was chaos due to an exceptional climatic event: 2 years of rain in 24 hours. Everything was flooded. Urbanization has caused the artificialization of soils. Rainwater no longer infiltrates and runs off. Rising sea levels promote flooding because it makes it more difficult for runoff water to escape to the ocean.
It was a similar phenomenon which led to the destruction of Saint-Leu by the cyclone of 1948: the cyclonic swell blocked the considerable masses of water brought in by the flooded ravines in the city. When the water receded, Saint-Leu was transformed into a riverbed.
Other Gulf countries were affected by this exceptional rain. 18 deaths were reported in Oman and one victim was swept away by the waves in the Emirates. Bahrain and Qatar also suffered damage.
These countries are not short of money. Qatar alone was able to organize a men’s football World Cup, something no Western state is currently able to do. The next edition will be a joint organization of the United States, Canada and Mexico while the one after that will take place in Spain, Morocco, Uruguay among others.
But all that money didn’t stop the flooding.
Protect the coastal population
This phenomenon reminds us of the importance in Reunion Island of stopping all construction on the coast and immediately launching a vast plan to protect people who cannot be evacuated in the face of rising sea levels.
Indeed, during a cyclone in Reunion, the level of precipitation is ten times greater than what Dubai has just experienced. It is time to act before the passage of an intense tropical cyclone on our island destroys a coastal town like Saint-Leu.
M.M.
