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(KPTV) - While Portland has enjoyed an April that has been dry for our region, not everyone has been so lucky.

The United Arab Emirates saw the heaviest rainfall in the country since records began in 1949 – about 10 inches in less than 24 hours.

In Dubai alone, flights were canceled, traffic came to a halt and schools were closed.

This unprecedented rainfall, never before seen in the Middle East has submerged streets, uprooted palm trees and demolished building facades.

People trying to reach the heart of Dubai via road found themselves stranded on the city’s highway. Several taxi drivers refused to take commuters into Dubai due to the blocked roads.

The hub stores toxic chemicals and more than 90% of Oregon’s liquid fuel supply.

This historic rainfall event is linked to a low-pressure system that traveled over the Arabian Peninsula and across the Gulf of Oman.

The storm system also brought unusually wet conditions to Oman, Qatar and southeastern Iran.

In Oman, at least 18 individuals lost their lives in flash floods triggered by the heavy rainfall.

There were unconfirmed reports that this chaos was caused by cloud seeding.

Cloud seeding is a weather modification technique aimed at increasing rainfall or snowfall from clouds.

It is achieved by adding condensation nuclei into clouds where water droplets or ice particles can form.

One method is to launch drones into the clouds to send out an electric charge. This ‘zaps’ the clouds and causes water droplets to combine, leading to rainfall.

The UAE has been cloud seeding since the 1990s and the technique has become more commonplace over the last few years.

An official at the UAE National Center of Meteorology said this rain was not caused by cloud seeding.