Was Dubai struck by 'Biblical proportions'?

By Tuesday, inhabitants of Gosh City a.k.a. Dubai found themselves uncontrollably belting out that old Silk Route song, 'Dooba dooba rehta hoon ankhon me teri', as the rest of us reacted to images from there with four parts shock, one part schadenfreude. For, after being bombarded by 24 hours of over 5.59 in of rain - the average year in Dubai sees 3.73 in - the damage done was of Biblical proportions.

Speaking of the good book, from Dubai if you cross the Saudi peninsula in space and aeons in time, you land in Egypt of the Old Testament when 'Ten Plagues' struck the pharaonic kingdom. Like this week's flood in the desert emirate - and more fatally in Oman - Egypt was also completely unprepared for the 'God of Israel' inflicting (un)natural disasters to force the pharaoh to free the Israelites in his land. Of the 10 biblical plagues, one involved 'rain' - 'The Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground' (Exodus 9:23). The earlier Noah-era flood of Genesis was the result of much more prolonged rainfall, and not the flash flood experienced by Dubai (and Egypt). So, as far as Biblical proportions go, is this week's freak rains in 'Doobai' a dire, divine message for a neighbourhood whose modern-day pharaohs have a nasty habit of letting rockets rain down on innocents? Oh, let's stay meteorological, shall we?