UAE allocates $544 million for flood-hit homes; 'We learned great lessons,' says PM Sheikh Mohammed

Following record-breaking rains that caused severe flooding, the United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday (Apr 24) that $544 million will be allocated for restoring Emirati residents' homes.

"We learned great lessons in dealing with severe rains," said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum after a cabinet meeting.

"A ministerial committee was assigned to follow up on this file... and disburse compensation in cooperation with the rest of the federal and local authorities," said Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the ruler of Dubai, added.

The announcement came over a week after the nation of deserts endured damage by an unparalleled flood that turned streets into rivers and caused major disruptions to Dubai Airport.

At least four people were killed by the excessive rainfall: three Filipino workers and one an Emirati. An official toll has not been disclosed by UAE officials.

Also read: Watch | Video shows Dubai's record-breaking storm, netizens react

According to the official Oman News Agency, the storm killed at least 21 people in Oman on April 14.

Then, before waning last Wednesday, it wreaked the United Arab Emirates.

At least 2,155 flights were canceled, 115 were diverted, and the airport in Dubai did not reach full capacity again until Tuesday.

"The weather condition that the UAE experienced during the previous days was unprecedented in its severity... but we are a country that learns from every experience... and develops itself, and the competent authorities immediately began studying the state of the infrastructure," the UAE cabinet said.

"Now that Dubai and the Emirates have overcome the strongest hurricane and rains in their history, we must acknowledge, with national concern and self-criticism, that there has been an unreasonable and unacceptable failure and collapse in services and crisis management that is not commensurate with the existence of the best management and the best infrastructure in the world. We hope that this will not be repeated in the future," prominent Emirati analyst Abdulkhaleq Abdulla wrote on X.

(With inputs from agencies)