A heartwarming video circulating on social media captures a scene from the recent extreme floods and storms in Dubai. In the video, a black and white cat clings tightly to the door handle of a car surrounded by floodwaters. Its fur is soaked and clings to its body, its eyes wide as it searches for rescuers while still holding onto the submerged vehicle.
A brave policeman waded through the water in a small inflatable boat to reach the stranded pet, then bent down and pulled it off the car door. The terrified cat struggled to cling to the vehicle, unaware that it was being rescued from the murky floodwaters.
Police officers placed the cat in the boat and rowed forward, the curious cat peering out from the side of the boat at the seemingly bottomless water. The video quickly went viral after being posted on the popular channel "Restoring Your Faith in Humanity," with animal lovers leaving numerous comments below the video.
One netizen wrote, "I can't imagine how long this poor cat clung to the car door handle during the flood." Another said, "This little cat must have been exhausted. Thank you to this kind person." Someone else commented, "I love that the cat finally realized the man was trying to help it."
This incident occurred after Dubai was plunged into darkness by a devastating storm. Videos taken by people trapped in the floodwaters show huge hailstones, submerged buildings, flying furniture, and debris traversing an underpass. The United Arab Emirates suffered severe flooding yesterday, with inundating the airport and many surrounding roads, forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights and leaving passengers huddled in terminals to escape the torrential rain. Other videos shared on social media show many cars filled with water, forcing hundreds of drivers to abandon their vehicles and swim to safety. Some cars were completely submerged, with their roofs barely visible above the water.
In a shocking video, debris from the road suddenly bursts through an underpass. The wind is so strong that the debris is pushed far away, and rain lashes down at seemingly impossible angles. The sky is almost completely black. Lightning briefly illuminates the low, thick gray clouds that completely obscure Dubai's skyline. The camera pans to show people scrambling for cover before cutting to the face of the woman filming. She is barely able to withstand the gale-force winds, and her voice is completely drowned out. This video is just one of many showing the devastation that has struck Dubai.
Yesterday, instead of the desert sun scorching the city, it was swallowed up by equally thick gray clouds, blocking out the sunlight. Some videos showed lightning briefly illuminating the clouds before plunging back into darkness. Several videos posted on Instagram user "stroy reel" revealed the scale of the flooding. Cars could be seen driving through submerged streets. Others had come to a complete stop, with drivers standing in knee-deep water. Another video posted by the same user showed a person swimming in the flooded road, having apparently abandoned their vehicle. A third video showed Dubai's streets plunged into darkness.
Torrential rain poured down, and strong winds were captured on microphones. Besides flooded streets, several buildings were also inundated. A video from Dubai airport shows people wading through ankle-deep water to escape the severe weather. Some seemed resigned to their situation, sitting in chairs around tables. On the runway, some stunning videos show several jet planes navigating the murky water, these massive aircraft appearing to float on the surface. People trapped in the wet conditions shared videos and pictures reminiscent of an apocalyptic world. Some brave drivers battled the severe weather in the darkness, sitting on their car roofs awaiting rescue, but many more chose to abandon their vehicles and swim to safety.
Many cars were abandoned in the deep water, while many people trying to escape the floodwaters got stuck in traffic jams and ultimately remained submerged. A video shared on X Tuesday morning showed entrepreneur and YouTuber Jordan Welch trapped in deep water in his Rolls-Royce in Dubai. “My Rolls-Royce is flooded and we’re stuck in the middle of a road in Dubai,” he wrote. “Like all my crypto friends… I’m ‘underwater’ today too,” he wrote in a follow-up post. But other Tesla drivers were on X, formerly Twitter, praising Elon Musk as they “floated” on flooded streets while “all the other cars were stuck.” Within a day, numerous buildings and shops were destroyed, with large chunks of water breaking through windows and sending vehicles into walls. Floodwaters surged through luxury underground shopping malls, and shoppers dressed in designer clothes waded through the water.
On the ground, gale-force winds blew furniture off balconies of high-rise buildings, the sky turned black, and apocalyptic videos showed lightning flashing every few seconds. Other videos from Tuesday showed the ceiling of a Flying Tiger store being breached by water, the store beginning to flood, and infrastructure bending under the pressure. Products poured from the ceiling, and bystanders stood helplessly by.
