Dubai - (AFP) - Large areas of the UAE were hit Sunday by a new dust storm that caused a significant decrease in visibility, prompting the authorities to ask drivers to exercise caution on the roads and warn of expected heavy rain.

Clouds of yellow dust and soil covered the main monuments and homes in large cities, and horizontal visibility was minimal to the minimum in the latest wave of a series of suffocating dust storms that struck the Middle East during the past few months.

On Saturday, the Abu Dhabi Media Office recommended on Twitter that drivers "use the car when necessary" while "driving safely while taking caution."

Horizontal visibility was less than a kilometer in Abu Dhabi and Dubai on Sunday.

The warnings of unusual rains in the extremely hot summer in the desert country came after seven people were killed as a result of sudden torrential rains that hit the country last month.

The National Authority for Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management announced at the time that it had received hundreds of requests for assistance, as flood waters flooded the streets of the coastal city of Fujairah, in particular, and other areas in the east of the country.

A series of severe dust storms, believed to be exacerbated by climate change, hit Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iran during the first months of this year, causing the closure of airports, ports and schools. Thousands of people have been hospitalized for breathing problems.

The UAE is highly vulnerable to global warming, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, with its exposure to rising temperatures, decreasing rainfall and increasing the frequency of dust storms, while rising sea levels threaten its low-lying coasts.