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The United Arab Emirates has announced a $544 million (R10.7 billion) aid package to repair homes damaged by unprecedented rainfall that brought the oil-rich nation to a standstill. The funds will focus on compensating Emirati families for property damage caused by the floods, which turned streets into rivers, disrupted daily life, and flooded homes.

The deluge, the heaviest in the UAE’s 75-year record, also caused severe infrastructure damage and prompted questions about the effectiveness of the country’s crisis management systems. Experts have linked the extreme weather event to human-caused climate change, highlighting the need for improved preparedness for future disasters.

**NASA released photos of parts of Dubai and Abu Dhabi before and after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was hit by record rainfall last week that caused dangerous floods and paralyzed much of the country.**

The images, taken by NASA Earth Observatory on Friday using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey, show large patches of water all over the desert and urban landscape of the UAE where previously there was none. Some areas remained flooded on April 19, when Landsat 9 passed over the region for the first time since the storms, NASA wrote on its Earth Observatory website.

Flash floods formed on April 16, engulfing cars and leading hundreds of drivers to abandon their vehicles on roads. The normally dry desert country in the Gulf was pummeled with roughly a year’s worth of rain in less than a day, more than it has ever seen in a single storm since records for the UAE began in 1949.

The deluge closed schools and businesses, grounded hundreds of flights, and destroyed cars, businesses, and other property. It threw daily life into chaos as many residents lost power and running water or were trapped either inside their homes, in airports, or wherever they happened to be when the storm hit.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman have signed $35 billion worth of investment partnerships in renewable energy, green metals, railways, digital infrastructure, and technology. The agreements aim to deepen cooperation between the two countries and drive economic development. The largest investment agreement is for an industrial and energy megaproject valued at $31 billion, which includes renewable energy initiatives and green metals production facilities. Both the UAE and Oman have intensified efforts to boost renewable energy and decarbonization projects in recent years, with Oman aiming to become a green hydrogen hub and the UAE planning to generate most of its electrical energy from solar power by 2050.