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Is it possible for Dubai to be destroyed by a sandstorm?

Yes, I recently finished Spec Ops the Line. I absolutely loved it.

I really love the destroyed Dubai as the stage for a game, it’s really iconic.

I was just wondering if there is a possibility that something like that might happen IRL? Of course, it looks like the sandstorm that destroyed in the game was massive, but is it possible? Or is more probable that the sea drowns the city when the sea levels rise up?

To be clear, I’m not wishing for the destruction of any mayor city. Just wondering if it’s a realistic scenario.

HobbitFoot ,

It is a lot more probable that the sea swallows Dubai.

Haboobs (big sandstorms) are common in that part of the world, but they noted more for the sand rather than the wind speed. Cyclones can hit Dubai, but I can’t recall a cyclone collapsing in a manner that would trigger a haboob. Even then, it is likely that the city is designed to withstand a cyclone and there generally isn’t anything in engineering codes to add to wind pressure for the presence of sand.

In contrast, as I mentioned, cyclones can hit Dubai. You also have potential issues with coastal flooding as a cyclone can push water from the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman into the relatively small Persian Gulf; this was a major cause for coastal flooding caused by post-cyclone Sandy to the New York City area. Worse for Dubai, it has destroyed a lot of its protective coral reeves by building the two Palms and the World. This can cause erosion of the seabed in front of Dubai, potentially causing greater problems with coastal flooding.

Xanthrax ,
@Xanthrax@lemmy.world avatar

Sandstorms don’t really work that way. Dust storms do; that’s what caused the Dust Bowl. It could happen in America (again).

atlasraven31 ,

It’s possible, I suppose. A plague of locusts is a classic and far more likely cause of destruction.

cynar ,

Dubai would likely be fairly immune to a plague of locusts. It, and its farms are surrounded by desert. Locusts need a base area to build up to a swarm, Dubai doesn’t have that, their farms are too intensive. The desert would likely stop any swarms migrating there too.

atlasraven31 ,

I’m no locust expert so I accept this explanation.

cynar ,

Neither am I. I just know that locust require a lot of food, and Dubai has a LOT of empty desert around it. (It also has a really weird vibe, culture wise)

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA ,
@HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world avatar

Plagues of locusts are no joke. One struck while I was on the shitter.

Puzzle_Sluts_4Ever ,

As climate change gets worse and worse, more or less anything is possible. Hell, it is 120F in Brazil this week and it is technically “winter”.

That said, I think the specific example in Spec Ops: The Line is not plausible. There won’t be a sudden sandstorm out of nowhere that swallows the city. It will be gradual (…-ish) increases in the intensity of existing sandstorms. Look at the continuing hurricanes hitting the gulf coast as an example of this. Where what used to be “storm of a century” is now “April”.

And we can see people pulling out of the gulf coast as a result. Those who have the resources leave. And Dubai is very much a city where people either have the resources or… work for the people who do. Combine that with how inhospitable that region is and we are more likely to see a rapidly abandoned city as all the rich people leave en masse.

So by the time there is a strong enough sandstorm to wipe out communications and demolish infrastructure? it will already have been a humanitarian crisis for years.

someguy3 ,

There was a firefight sandstorm!

Mr_Blott ,

Let’s send Darude and FUCKIN FIND OUT

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