DUBAI: Dubai’s giant highways were clogged by flooding and airport passengers were urged to stay away on Wednesday as the glitzy financial centre reeled from record rains.

Official media said it was the highest rainfall since records began in 1949, before the formation of the UAE in 1971.

Dubai’s skies, usually electric blue and cloudless, darkened to night-like conditions in mid-afternoon on Tuesday as a second storm front blew in.

At the airport, long taxi queues formed and delayed passengers milled around. Scores of flights were also delayed, cancelled and diverted during Tuesday’s torrential rain.

Some pictures have stood out.