Dubai roads, airport struggle following record rainfall

Dubai s giant highways were clogged by flooding and its major airport was in chaos as the Middle East financial centre remained gridlocked on Wednesda...

Dubai's giant highways were clogged by flooding and its major airport was in chaos as the Middle East financial centre remained gridlocked on Wednesday, a day after the heaviest rains on record.

Tailbacks snaked along waterlogged, six-lane expressways after up to 259.5 millimetres (10.2 inches) of rain, the most since records began 75 years ago, fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

At least one person was killed after a 70-year-old man was swept away in his car in Ras Al-Khaimah, one of the oil-rich country's seven emirates, police said.

One road tunnel near the airport was completely flooded to a depth of several metres (yards).

Schools will remain closed in Dubai until next week, authorities said, underscoring the difficulty of the clean-up.