Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson narrowly escaped the United Arab Emirates this week before a historic rainstorm flooded parts of the country and grounded all airline travel, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a startling development to come after the UAE city of Dubai suffered 18 months of rainfall in a single day on Tuesday, a source revealed that Carlson was almost trapped in Dubai amid the historic storm.
According to Daily Mail, Carlson was in Dubai this week to interview Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.
Although thousands of visitors and tourists were trapped in Dubai due to the devastating floods, a source told the outlet that Carlson managed to leave Dubai before the rainstorm started on Tuesday.
Jordan Welch, a popular cryptocurrency influencer on TikTok, documented the historic rainstorm and his experience being trapped in the UAE amid the floods.
“We're stuck in the middle of the road in Dubai,” Welch, 26, tweeted on Tuesday. “Just like all my friends in crypto…today I am underwater.”
Welch and hundreds of others were in Dubai this week to attend a cryptocurrency conference. The historic rainstorm – which has since been described as a flood “apocalypse” – left nearly everybody but Carlson trapped until the floodwaters receded.
One state-run news agency called the storm on Tuesday a “historic weather event” that reportedly surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.”
Nearly six inches of water reportedly rained down on Dubai in 24 hours – a stark difference when compared to the nearly four inches of rain the city receives on average during an entire year.
Several airlines, including Emirates, were forced to halt all flights until midnight on Wednesday as the UAE scrambled to battle the devastating floodwaters rushing through the city.
“It remains an incredibly challenging time,” Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said after the historic storm. “In living memory, I don't think anyone has ever seen conditions like it.”
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“We are in uncharted territory,” he continued, “but I can assure everyone we are working as hard as we possibly can to make sure our customers and staff are looked after.”
As RadarOnline.com noted, Carlson was in Dubai to interview Telegram CEO Pavel Durov shortly before the rainstorm struck.
Carlson’s interview with Durov was for the fired Fox News host’s new Tucker Carlson Network.
Carlson has interviewed several high-profile people since he departed from Fox News last April – including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Carlson’s interview with Putin premiered on the conservative broadcaster’s X show, and he faced tremendous backlash for it due to Russia’s ongoing invasion of and war against Ukraine.
His interview with Durov suffered similar backlash – particularly because Telegram was accused of tolerating the spread of conspiracy theories and hate speech on the platform.