A crypto influencer is among thousands of people stranded in Dubai amid the flood ‘apocalypse’ that brought 18 months of rain in a single day.
In a video posted to his X page on Tuesday, Miami native Jordan Welch, 26, showed that the Rolls Royce he was traveling in in the Emirate was flooded with rainwater.
“We are stuck in the middle of the road in Dubai,” Welch wrote. Just like all my friends in crypto… I’m underwater today,” she posted in a follow-up.
He is one of thousands of tourists in the region who have been stranded due to the strange weather system.
Controversial American broadcaster Tucker Carlson was also in Dubai this week to interview Telegram CEO Pavel Dubrov, while a cryptocurrency conference was also being held in the city, a source confirmed to MailOnline that the former Fox News host left early of the storm.
Another video shows Welch hanging out of the window of the Rolls Royce, laughing and gesticulating in solidarity with road workers with Eminem’s 2000 ballad Stan playing in the background.
A previous video showed Welch enjoying a typical vacation in Dubai, driving supercars, in a helicopter and in a nightclub.
Welch has millions of followers on her TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube page. It has been reported that his net worth is around $4 million. Welch, a college dropout, made money through an e-commerce business on Shopify.
Businessman and influencer Jordan Welch is among the thousands of people stranded in Dubai thanks to epic flooding in the region.
Welch, originally from South Florida, had been in the Emirate for the past week on vacation.
Welch, 26, revealed that the Rolls Royce he was traveling in got stuck in the water on Monday
This week Dubai suffered 18 months of rain in a single 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 advance the business.” Next time”. .’
That same year, Welch founded a software company called Viral Vault whose goal is to help other aspiring entrepreneurs start their own businesses.
On the social side, Welch illustrates his other ventures in cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and investments.
MailOnline has contacted Welch for further comment.
One couple, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity so they could 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 Wednesday.
They ended up taking a taxi to near their home, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) away, but were stopped by flood water. A passerby helped them over a road barrier with their carry-on luggage, they said.
State news agency WAM called Tuesday’s rain “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.”
The interior spaces, not prepared for the flood, were also soaked with water.
A street view after heavy rain as adverse weather conditions affect daily life in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, April 15, 2024.
That was before the discovery of crude oil in this energy-rich nation that was then part of a British protectorate known as the Trucial States.
It also rained in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. However, the rains were heavy across the UAE.
One reason may have been “cloud seeding,” in which small planes piloted by the government pierce clouds by burning special salt flares. These flares can increase precipitation.
Several reports cited meteorologists at the National Meteorological Center as saying they made six or seven flights to seed clouds ahead of the rains.
The rains began late Monday, drenching Dubai’s sand and roads with about 0.79 inches of rain, according to weather 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, more than 5.59 inches of rain had drenched Dubai for 24 hours.
An average year sees 3.73 inches of rain at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and a hub for long-haul airline Emirates.
A cleanup operation appeared to be underway early this morning, with authorities deploying water tankers on streets and highways to pump out water.
A strong wave of thunderstorms has hit most major cities in the United Arab Emirates.
Waves begin to crash on the road as cars stall in Dubai
A van gets stuck while trying to pass through standing water in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, April 16, 2024.
But the country’s hereditary rulers offered no general information on damage or injuries to the nation, as some slept in their flooded vehicles Tuesday night.
In Ras al-Khaimah, the country’s northernmost emirate, police said a 70-year-old man died when his vehicle was swept away by water.
Authorities canceled classes and the government instituted a work-from-home policy while the cleanup operation continues.
Emirates said the airline had suspended check-in for passengers departing from Dubai from 8am to midnight on Wednesday as it tried to clear the airport of transit passengers, many of whom had been sleeping where they could in its cavernous terminals. .
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused,” the airline said in X. “Emirates is working hard to restore our scheduled operations.”
Passengers on FlyDubai, Emirates’ low-cost sister airline, also suffered disruptions.
Paul Griffiths, the airport’s chief executive, acknowledged the continuing problems with flooding on Wednesday morning and said every spot where a plane could safely park had been taken.
Some planes had been diverted to Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, the city-state’s second airfield.
‘It remains an incredibly challenging time. As far as I can remember, I don’t think anyone has seen conditions like this,” 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 make sure our customers and staff are taken care of.”
Fujairah, an emirate on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates, recorded the heaviest rainfall on Tuesday, with 5.7 inches falling there.
Authorities canceled classes and the government instituted remote work again for Wednesday.
Rain is unusual in the United Arab Emirates, an arid nation on the Arabian Peninsula, but it occurs periodically during the colder winter months. Many roads and other areas lack drainage due to 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 died from heavy rains in recent days, according to a Wednesday statement from the National Committee for the Management of Country emergencies.
That includes about 10 schoolchildren who were dragged away in a vehicle with an adult, prompting condolences to reach the country from leaders throughout the region.