Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Wadis overflow as heavy rains lash several wilayats

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Muscat: Even as heavy rains lashed a number of governorates in Oman, the impact of the low pressure trough in the Arabian Peninsula, is expected to continue till Wednesday.


“All the governorates in the Sultanate will be affected by heavy rains measuring between 40 to 90 millimeter. The rains will be accompanied by hails and thunders,” 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 millimeter rainfall. 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 Wadi al Wudd in the Wilayat.


In another incident, a family of twelve 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 Wal Wafi witnessed rains of varying intensity causing wadis overflowing.


A section of the main road was washed away by flash flood blocking citizens from accessing hospitals and other public services with many students missing their exams. Strong wind 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 (MOH) 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 is continuing providing health services in all the Governorates during the climate condition, as well as providing all the needs for the health institutions in terms of the human resources, medical devices, medicines and other logistics services”, a statement said. The Met Office in the Sultanate said wadis in Dhakhiliya, South Al Bathinah and North and South Al Sharqiyah have the potential for heavy flowing.


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 the most of the governorates in the Sultanate.


“There are some convective clouds over Al Buraimi, Dhahirah, Northern Bathinah, South Al Sharqiyah.  Most of clouds in Dhofar are indicating to be more toward the inland and there is presence of clouds near Mugsayl too”, weather experts said.


Cumulous clouds have been spotted over the governorates of North Batinah and Musandam and near the province of 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 Sharqiya.


In the Governorate of Muscat, al Amerat received 68 mm of rainfall, Adam in al Dhakhiliya received 22 mm, Al Rustaq 16 mm, Ibri in al Dhahira got 15 mm, in the north of Batinah, Saham got 12 mm, Madha in Musandam received 5 mm and rainfall registerd in Buraimi in Madadha reaced 4 mm.


A number of wadis flew in South al Sharqiya in Sur and Al Kamil Wa al Wafi and Jalan Bani Bu Ali like Tahwa, Tiwi, Teema, Sabt and others. In Willayat al Hamra in al Dakhiliya, Wadi Sahma, and al Sileel flew, in addition to Wadi al Misela in Nizwa and Wadi al Din and al Nidab in Sameil.


In Sur in South al Sarqiya, the flood protection dam has blocked (10 million cubic meters) of water and in Muscat in al Amrat, the Al-Sreen dam for underground water detained (0.098 million cubic meters).


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