TikToker Jordan Welch is among thousands of visitors stuck in Dubai’s flood ‘apocalypse’ as extraordinary footage shows how 18 months’ rain fell in one day

A crypto influencer is among thousands of people stranded in Dubai during the flood ‘apocalypse’, which brought 18 months’ worth of rainfall in just one day.

In a video posted to his

“We are stuck in the middle of the road in Dubai,” Welch wrote. Like all my friends in crypto… today I am underwater,” he wrote in a follow-up.

He is among thousands of tourists to the region who have been stranded by the bizarre weather system.

Controversial US broadcaster Tucker Carlson was also in Dubai this week to interview Telegram CEO Pavel Durov while there was also a crypto conference in the city. A source confirmed to MailOnline that the former Fox News host left before the storm.

Another video shows Welch hanging out the window of the Rolls Royce, laughing and gesticulating in solidarity with the workers on the road, while Eminem’s 2000 ballad Stan plays in the background.

In an earlier video, Welch was seen enjoying a typical holiday in Dubai, driving supercars, a helicopter and at a nightclub.

Welch racks up millions of followers on his TikTok, Instagram and YouTube pages. It has been reported that his net worth is around $4 million. Welch, a college dropout, made his money through an e-commerce business on Shopify.

Welch, a native of South Florida, spent the past week on vacation in the emirate

Welch, 26, announced that the Rolls Royce he was traveling in got stuck in the water on Monday

This week, Dubai received 18 months of rain in one day

“The problem with many aspiring entrepreneurs is that they are willing to quit after their first failed business,” Welch said in 2018. “What they don’t realize is that their failure was a learning experience that will only help them further next time.” . .’

That same year, Welch started a software company called Viral Vault, which aims to help other aspiring entrepreneurs create their own businesses.

On the social front, Welch illustrates his other ventures in cryptocurrency, NFTs and investing.

MailOnline has contacted Welch for further comment.

A couple, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to speak freely in a country with strict laws criminalizing critical speech, called the situation at the airport “absolute carnage.”

‘You can’t take a taxi. There are people sleeping in the metro station. There are people sleeping at the airport,” the man said on Wednesday.

They eventually took a taxi to their home, about 20 miles away, but the water on the road stopped them. A bystander helped them over the barrier with their carry-on luggage, they said.

State news agency WAM on Tuesday called the rain “a historic weather event” that “exceeds everything documented since data collection began in 1949.”

Interior areas, which had not been prepared for the flooding, were also soaked with water

A view of the street after heavy rain as adverse weather conditions affect daily life in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on April 15, 2024

That’s before the discovery of crude oil in this energy-rich country that was then part of a British protectorate known as the Trucial States.

Rain also fell in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. However, the rains were acute in the UAE.

One reason may have been cloud seeding, in which small government planes fly through the clouds and burn special salt torches. Those flares can increase precipitation.

Several reports quoted meteorologists from the National Center for Meteorology as saying they had made six or seven cloud-seeding flights before the rain.

The rain started late on Monday, drenching Dubai’s sands and roads with about 0.79 centimeters of rain, according to meteorological data collected at Dubai International Airport.

The storms intensified around 9 a.m. local time on Tuesday and continued throughout the day, dumping more rain and hail on the overwhelmed city.

By the end of Tuesday, Dubai had been soaked with more than 17.5 centimeters of rain for more than 24 hours.

An average of 3.73 centimeters of rain falls per year at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and a hub for long-haul airline Emirates.

Early this morning a clean-up operation appeared to be underway, with authorities deploying tankers onto the streets and highways to pump out the water.

A heavy wave of thunderstorms has hit most of the UAE’s major cities

Waves begin crashing on the road as cars are brought to a halt in Dubai

An SUV stops while trying to drive through standing water in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, April 16, 2024

But the country’s hereditary rulers did not provide general damage or injury information for the nation as some slept in their flooded vehicles on Tuesday evening.

In Ras al-Khaimah, the country’s northernmost emirate, police said a 70-year-old man died when his vehicle was swept away by floodwaters.

Authorities have canceled school and the government has introduced a work-from-home policy as the clean-up operation continues.

Emirates said the airline had halted check-in for passengers departing from Dubai itself from 8am until midnight on Wednesday as it tried to clear the airport of transit passengers – many of whom had been sleeping where they could in the cavernous terminals.

“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused,” the airline said on X. “Emirates is working hard to restore our scheduled flights.”

Passengers on FlyDubai, Emirates’ low-cost sister airline, also faced disruptions.

Paul Griffiths, the airport’s chief executive, acknowledged ongoing problems with flooding on Wednesday morning and said every place where an aircraft could be safely parked was being taken.

Some planes had been diverted to Dubai World Central’s Al Maktoum International Airport, the city-state’s second airport.

‘It remains an incredibly challenging time. I don’t think anyone has ever seen conditions like that,” Griffiths told state radio station Dubai Eye.

‘We are in uncharted territory, but I can assure everyone that we are working as hard as we can to ensure our customers and staff are well looked after.’

Fujairah, an emirate on the east coast of the UAE, saw the heaviest rainfall on Tuesday, with 17.5 centimeters falling.

Authorities canceled school and the government reinstated remote work on Wednesday.

Rain is uncommon in the UAE, an arid country on the Arabian Peninsula, but occurs periodically during the cooler winter months. Many roads and other areas lack drainage due to the lack of regular rainfall, causing flooding.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Oman, a sultanate located on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, at least 19 people have been killed in heavy rains in recent days, according to a statement Wednesday from the country’s National Emergency Management Committee.

That includes about 10 schoolchildren who were swept away in a vehicle with an adult, with condolences pouring into the country from rulers across the region.