'We're living on duty free' say tourists stranded in Dubai

Tourists stranded in Dubai's major airports say they are "desperate for food" and are running low on water as floods cause disruption and chaos in one of the world's busiest transport hubs.

Passengers who have spoken to the BBC say they have been waiting for hours at Dubai's two major international airports, with little information or support provided to them.

About 290 flights to and from Dubai International Airport on Wednesday have been cancelled, according to Flight Aware data at 21:00 GMT (22:00 BST).

There have been a further 440 delayed flights, the data showed.

It comes after record rainfall caused floods in Gulf states, leading to the deaths of 20 people.

James and Elizabeth Devine, from Cambridge, have been stuck at the wrong connecting airport in Dubai with their six-month-old son after their flight back home from a wedding in Sydney was diverted.

It landed at Dubai World Central Airport, more than 80km (40 miles) away from their intended destination, Dubai International Airport.

Mr Devine, a 30-year-old software engineer, and Mrs Devine, a 29-year-old primary school teacher, are part of a party of nine from the UK. They've been "living on duty free" and say water is in short supply.

"The restaurants are closed," Mr Devine said. "The only food we have is from duty free so it's like they haven't provided any food for infants or young children, there's no nappies, so we're like handing-off nappies to people."

The weather conditions have forced Dubai International Airport - the world's second busiest - to divert dozens of inbound planes and cancel a number of flights.

"We are currently experiencing significant disruption due to the weather and are continuously working with our emergency response teams and service partners to restore normal operations as quickly as possible," it said on X, formerly Twitter.

Emirates, a major international airline headquartered in Dubai, has suspended check-in for passengers departing from Dubai until Thursday, due to "operational challenges" caused by the bad weather.

Despite the chaos, the couple said passengers have kept arriving at the airport.

"We are all stuck in this poorly resourced airport," Mr Devine said, "there are hundreds if not thousands of people here".

"They had to open duty free so we could eat some food but it's running out."

Andrew and Kate Golding navigated "floating cars" to get inside Dubai International Airport and have now been there for 12 hours.

"I'm trying to get on another flight," Andrew, 62, told BBC News. "My wife, Kate is standing in another queue as we're trying to hedge our bets."

The couple from Kent were on holiday to celebrate Kate's 60th birthday, a trip Andrew says she will now "never forget".

"It has been worse I think than anyone expected, but the system within the airport has completely fallen apart and Emirates, which I consider to be one of finest airlines - no staff, no information, no coordination, no professionalism, no care - no disaster planning at Emirates, it's weird - big companies normally plan for these events."

"It's been total chaos."

"People are sleeping in the lounges, on the floors, food packets everywhere. It's just been a pretty filthy experience really."

BBC News has contacted Emirates for comment.

Elsewhere at the airport, Anne Wing, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, is with her husband and three children hoping to fly to London Heathrow.

They arrived at the airport at 08:00 local time (04:00 GMT) for their 11:25 flight, and were initially told it had been delayed by an hour.

"We have spoken to no-one from Emirates since 08:00 this morning," she said.

"Passengers were shouting and rioting at the connection desk, there were no staff to be seen."

"Its horrific, we are squashed in like animals - it is dangerous and inhumane," she added.

"Its absolutely ridiculous here".

She said her family haven't eaten since lunch time, and all that has been provided are some "small cartons of water".

Margaret McArthur, 73 and her husband Derek, 75, from Monifieth near Dundee in Scotland, are in Dubai for a two-day stopover and were supposed to be heading on to Tokyo today.

They were due to fly from Dubai International Airport on Wednesday morning but their flight was delayed and hours later, they still haven't been given an alternative flight.

"We meant to fly at 07:50 this morning, and we have been at the airport since 06:15," Mrs McArthur said.

"We have been here for 13 hours so far. No food and had only a coffee. There are no facilities where we were told to stay."

The couple say they are "desperate for food" and that no vouchers have been issued to passengers.

"We don't know what is happening," Mrs McArthur said, adding that communication with their airline has been poor.

Matt Weir is a teacher in Dubai and has lived there for 10 years.

He said it was mid-afternoon on Tuesday when he noticed a large, ominous cloud stretching across the sky.

"At 3pm the sky went pitch black and apocalyptic - that's when I took that picture of the sky as I saw the storm come in," he told the BBC.

The cloud's appearance was followed by torrential rain: "When I got back to my house it looked like I'd just got out of the bath".

Since then, Mr Weir said "Dubai has been left under water - some places are a good metre and more under water, thousands of houses are completely flooded."

Mr Weir said his home was unaffected, but "my neighbours' house just two doors down is totally flooded."

"There are also collapsed roads with cars fallen through... A lot of the shopping malls have completely leaked too."

Footage from the centre of Dubai shows dozens of submerged vehicles on a flooded part of Sheikh Zayed Road, as well as long traffic jams elsewhere on the 12-lane highway.

Mr Weir said that though menacing clouds had been superseded by blue skies by Wednesday, "so much is still under water and infrastructure has collapsed".

On Tuesday the UAE experienced its largest rainfall event since records began 75 years ago.

The National Centre of Meteorology announced that 254.8mm (9.7in) had fallen on Khatm al-Shakla, in the emirate of al-Ain, over less than 24 hours.

The country averages 140-200 mm of rainfall per year, while Dubai typically receives only 97mm. The monthly average for April is only about 8mm.

The heavy rain also hit Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Many factors contribute to flooding, but a warming atmosphere caused by climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.

The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.

Additional reporting by Rozina Sini, James Kelly, Andrée Massiah and UGC

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