**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.
