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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

More rain forecast, wadis overflow

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MUSCAT, MAY 19 - Even as heavy rains lashed a number of governorates in Oman, the impact of the low pressure trough, is expected to continue till Wednesday. “All the governorates in the Sultanate will be affected by heavy rains measuring between 40 to 90 millimetre. The rains will be accompanied by hail and thunder,” a statement from the Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) said on Sunday. Accordingly, it issued an alert of flash floods and asked citizens and residents to stay away from ‘wadi sighting’ during the rains. “It will be partly cloudy to cloudy skies over most of the Sultanate with chances of rain occasionally thundershowers associated with fresh downdraft winds and hail,” the statement said.


On Saturday, a number of governorates witnessed heavy downpours accompanied by thunderstorms. The Wilayat of Wadi Bani Khalid received the highest amount of 90 mm rainfall. Muscat Governorate received rainfall in most areas including Qurayat, Seeb, Al Amerat and Ruwi. According to Met Office, rains will continue until Monday afternoon.  According to Royal Oman Police (ROP), a citizen has died after being rescued on Saturday evening in the Wilayat of Wadi Bani Khalid. The ROP said that two people were in critical condition after being rescued in the wilayat by citizens. Meanwhile, the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance said that search was on for an expat family of Asian nationality, whose vehicle went missing in a wadi in the wilayat.


In another incident, a family of 12 was rescued by the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance late on Saturday night after they were trapped in their home due to a flooded wadi. A number of villages in the Wilayat of Al Kamil W’al Wafi witnessed rains of varying intensity causing wadis overflowing. A section of the main road was washed away by flash floods blocking citizens from accessing hospitals and other public services with many students missing their exams.Strong winds and heavy rains also caused damage to farms and collapse of lamp posts in the wilayat. A man was rescued from drowning at Wadi Al Batha and a police helicopter flew an injured man from Saiq village to the Sur hospital.


The Ministry of Health said in a statement on Sunday that all the health institutions are ready to deal with the situation arising from the adverse climate condition in the Sultanate. “The ministry continues to provide health services in all the governorates during the climate condition, as well as providing all the needs for the health institutions in terms of human resources, medical devices, medicines and other logistics services”, a statement said. The Met Office in the Sultanate said wadis in Dakhiliyah, South Al Batinah and North and South Al Sharqiyah have the potential for heavy flooding.

On Saturday many of the wadis overflowed causing mishaps and traffic congestion and in some cases damaging vehicles. More wadis are expected to flow and Sunday’s satellite images displayed cloud formations in most of the governorates in the Sultanate. “There are some convective clouds over Al Buraimi, Dhahirah, Northern Al Batinah, South Al Sharqiyah. Most of the clouds in Dhofar are indicating to be more towards the inland and there is presence of clouds near Mughsayl too”, weather experts said. Cumulus clouds have been spotted over the governorates of North Batinah, Musandam and Al Buraimi and the coast of Dhofar as monitored by the PACA’s radar. Rainfall monitoring stations of the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources recorded the highest quantity 101 mm in Sur in South Al Sharqiyah.


In the Governorate of Muscat, Al Amerat received 68 mm of rainfall, Adam in Al Dakhiliyah received 22 mm, Rustaq 16 mm, Ibri in Al Dhahirah got 15 mm, in the north of Batinah, Saham got 12 mm, Madha in Musandam received 5 mm and rainfall registered in Buraimi in Madha reached 4 mm.


A number of wadis overflowed in South Al Sharqiyah in Sur and Al Kamil W’al Wafi and Jaalan Bani Bu Ali like Tahwa, Tiwi, Teema, Sabt and others. In the Wilayat of Al Hamra in Al Dakhiliyah, Wadi Sahma and Al Sileel flow, in addition to Wadi Al Misela in Nizwa and Wadi al Din and Al Nidab in Samayil. In Sur in South Al Sharqiyah, the flood protection dam has 10 million cubic metres of water and in Muscat in Al Amerat, the Al Sreen dam for underground water has 0.098 million cubic metres.


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