Flooding in Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates attempted to dry out Wednesday from the heaviest rain the desert nation has ever recorded — a deluge that flooded out Dubai International Airport and disrupted flights through the world’s busiest airfield for international travel. The state-run WAM news agency called the rain Tuesday “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.” That’s before crude oil was discovered in this energy-rich nation then part of a British protectorate known as the Trucial States. Rain also fell in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but was acute across the UAE.