Dubai International, one of the world’s busiest airports, canceled, diverted and delayed flights on Saturday due to heavy rain and flooding, Dubai Airports said.
Flights are likely to be delayed throughout the day and some have been canceled or diverted to nearby Al Maktoum airport, state-owned Dubai Airports said on Twitter.
Video footage and images posted on social media showed part of the airport’s runway area submerged underwater.
In a tweet on Friday, Dubai Airports issued a travel advisory for passengers flying out of the UAE during the weekend.
The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) has predicted heavy rainfall across the UAE on Friday night which will ease slightly by Saturday night. In light of this, Dubai Airports said in a tweet: "Advisory: Heavy rainfall is expected tonight and may cause flight delays and road congestion.
"Customers travelling tonight or tomorrow morning are advised to leave extra time to reach the airport and to check their flight status on dubaiairports.ae or airline websites."
Dubai airport is the base of airlines Emirates and flydubai.
Emirates said several flights to and from Dubai had been delayed. Flydubai said its flights were also delayed, while some had been diverted.
