The April 2024 floods and home insurance

How much rain fell on 16 April 2024?

More than the UAE’s usual rainfall for a year in some places. A 2026 paper in Scientific Reports, citing the National Center of Meteorology, says the UAE “recorded its heaviest rainfall in at least 75 years” on 16 April 2024.¹

The paper puts the UAE’s national mean annual rainfall at about 100 mm, and says the airport’s total was “equivalent to about two years’ worth of rainfall, in a single day”.¹

What did the Central Bank say about home claims?

On 22 April 2024 the Central Bank of the UAE confirmed that damage to vehicles and homes from the heavy rains is “covered by insurance if there is an insurance policy against loss and damage”, and that insurance companies “shall be considered responsible for indemnification”. It added that “owners of real states, whether homes or buildings covered by insurance are entitled to have their property repaired”.²

The same notice let banks and finance companies defer personal and car loan instalments for six months for affected customers, without extra fees, interest or profit.² It urged the public to read their policies and to go to Sanadak with any complaint or dispute.²

What help did the government give homeowners?

On 24 April 2024 the UAE Cabinet approved “an AED2 billion package to address the damage suffered by the citizens’ homes”, with a ministerial committee to assess damage and pay compensation with federal and local authorities.³ The announcement names citizens’ homes. It does not mention residents who are not citizens.³

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said the central operation rooms “dealt with more than 200,000 reports”.³

How much did insurers pay?

No published figure splits out home claims. Two sources give the scale.

• Guy Carpenter, a reinsurance broker, estimated in September 2024 that total insured losses from the event would “exceed USD 2.9 billion and could reach as high as USD 3.4 billion for the UAE”, with motor about 10%. It added that “Given the relatively low insurance penetration rate in the UAE, the economic loss is likely to be much higher.”⁴
• The Central Bank’s 2024 insurance report says gross paid claims rose 31.6% to AED 41.6 billion, and that fire insurance claims paid “rose by 195.1% due to unprecedented weather conditions in the UAE during the year 2024”.⁵ The report does not give an amount for the storm itself.⁵

Do new policies pay for weather damage straight away?

Not always. Liva’s home wording dated 15 October 2026 says: “All weather related damages or water related damages incurred, whether reported or not, during the first thirty (30) days of your policy issuance are not covered. This condition is applicable to New policies only.”⁶

If you buy a policy because rain is forecast, ask the insurer in writing whether a waiting period applies.

What can you do if a flood claim was turned down?

Complain to the insurer, then to Sanadak. Sanadak accepts complaints up to three years from the conduct complained about, or two years from when you became aware of it, whichever is longer.⁷ The steps are in how to complain about a home insurer.

The small print

• Rainfall. Figures are from Scientific Reports, 2 June 2026, which cites the National Center of Meteorology and the UAE Annual Climate Assessment Report 2024. It also reports a peak gust of 113.4 km/h at Tal Al Sarab.¹
• Insured loss. Guy Carpenter’s estimate uses information available as of 31 August 2024 and is in US dollars.⁴
• Claims statistics. The 195.1% figure is for fire insurance claims paid by all insurers in 2024. The same section says motor claims paid rose 62.2%.⁵