New Delhi, Dec. 19 -- Vehicles ploughing through waist-deep floodwaters, inundated shopping malls - Dubai woke up to such startling scenes on Friday morning afte torrential rains lashed the Arab city. Images more common in India's capital Delhi, Mumbai during the rainy season, played out in the desert metropolis, sparking a wave of comparisons between the cities by social media users.

"This is not Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati. Dubai today early morning. Vehicles navigate floodwater in Dubai's Al Barsha 1 following heavy rain," one social media user posted on X, along with multiple clips of heavily waterlogged streets.

Dubai's usually glittering skyline of skyscrapers gave way to an unsettling sight of submerged roads, with people seen strugg...