Rainfall in a desert can be unconventional, but it happens. Dubai and UAE share the same principles where rain seldom, and it is not something people are unaware of. However, the recent downpour surprised the natives and the world being the heaviest precipitation since 1949.
While it affected the residents and the (lifeline) tourism a lot, it also had a destructive impact on the business industry. Here, we will talk about this business impact and how even after the prediction, the region wasn’t ready for this catastrophe.
The Current Storm’s Effect on Dubai’s Landscape
The devastations of heavy rain and storms in Dubai are not oblivious to the world right now. The city of the world’s luxuries has seen its worst only in a matter of a few days. Flooded basements, rivered streets, submerged underpasses, and floating cars, no one had imagined that Dubai and UAE would ever look like this as well.
In the whole UAE, the Watery Reaper has taken 20 lives, and no one is sure whether this number will halt here. But taking lives is not how it has disrupted the world’s oasis and washed out the structures.
Dubai International Airport, the power station of tourism in Dubai and UAE and the world’s second-busiest airport, suffered the most. According to some estimates, 2024 will bring more than 90 million passers-by to it, surpassing even the population of the whole of Germany. Delays and missed flights have resulted in millions of dollars of loss to private and government airlines.
A Threat That Was Miscalculated But Not Unexpected
All this destruction, all this disruption, and all this misery. Whether analysts and forecasters have predicted it all. However, they underestimated the results. Several environmentalists warned the UAE’s governmental bodies to consider it coming.
Artificial rains and overall global warming are said to be the main reasons behind the storms, which are intensifying as the ecosystem is facing more and more human involvement. Experts told the community about the upcoming rain. However, they miscalculated its severity and the people also took it lightly since rain may be rare in this desert but was not surprising.
In contrast, the authorities deny cloud seeding before the destructive rain. They claim it was utterly a natural calamity, which further (indirectly) fuels the concerns of environmentalists and weather experts.
The average annual rainfall in Dubai is 130 mm (5.12 inches). But, it rained cats and dogs in this desert breaking the records of the previous 75 years. The single-day measurement was recorded as 25 cm (10 inches), which was almost the double of yearly average.
On the other hand, destruction at such a scale doesn’t affect the architectural and obvious aspects (tourism, the bloodline of Dubai, in this case). It tempered with the economical structure as well.
Its Impact on the Business Industry
Although the affected tourism disrupted the huge revenue stream of the UAE, the business industry get most of its impact. Hence it resulted in a severe breakdown of income streams, even dropping some businesses to the grounds. Some of the negative impacts on the business industry are given below:
- Public-Dealing Businesses: The flooded streets and highways forced the employees to stay in their homes. As a result, the companies that rely on more physical presence and public dealings, such as restaurants, retail shops, markets, malls, and other offices, suffered a lot.
- Supply Chain Restriction: The logistics, transportation, and supply chain are entirely halted as the vehicles have nowhere to travel around. Due to submerged roads and underpasses, they either have to take a detour or cancel the trip at all.
- Property Damage: The destruction to the homes and residences is not hidden from everyone. But what some people don’t discuss is the damage to offices and business hubs. Several businesses have had to reconstruct and repair their workspaces to get back on track like before.
- Business Loss: Since the severe downpour has affected everyone, numerous B2B companies have suffered extra. It is because their clients are also businesses that are recovering from the huge impact, the B2B industry has to wait longer for a business revival.
Effects on Stock Market
As the storm spread havoc everywhere, the stock market was no exception as well. Usually, the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) shapes the market structure of the UAE. Unfortunately, it suffers the blow too. But luckily, it survived the hefty damage.
Dubai Financial Market (DFM)
The Dubai Financial Market (as the name suggests) manages the stock exchanges in the region and also deals with the clearing houses. It operates in real estate investment trusts, futures/derivatives, funds, equities, indices, carbon credits, and others.
For the past six months, it has been gradually blooming from 3741 index points in late October 2023 to 4350+ points in early March. However, when the storm hit Dubai in mid-April, it dropped from 4243 to 4166. Luckily, it was not a large and concerning drop.
Summary
The overwhelming and unplanned precipitation has caused damage of hundreds of millions of dollars while taking lives as well. On the one hand, it has put people in distress, the business sector has also suffered equally. As many businesses were slowed down, some were even closed (perhaps temporarily). The stock market got a hit too, but it stabilized on time.
10 inches of rainfall is a lot in itself. And when it fell on the ground where no one expected its severity this much ever, it created disaster. However, the UAE is a land of marvels, and we believe the Arabs will recover from this setback with even more surprising outcomes.