So far the only indications that we have had is that it is heading directly to Southern Iranian territory. The metrology centre has had very conflicting pieces of information regarding Cyclone GONU.
There has been news of dirt roads falling apart due to the heavy rains and there has been some damages (somewhere in Oman) where some houses were taked out from their routes. It seems as though these houses had been made from wood and were very close to the shores. Thankfully, though, no loss of lives has been claimed due to that happening.
Right now in Muscat, heavy rains downpour continues accompanied by strong winds although it seems as though it has quietened down just a bit right now.
There have been rumors spreading that the Cyclone is heading back towards the Muscat shores. This is not true, however. As sattelite images show that it is staying the Gulf of Oman on a route towards Iran.
The local telecom company Nawras, has been updating its subscribers all through the night and day today of any emergency messages from the proper authorities. Keeping its subscribers posted about every development. It is unknown whether the Oman Mobile team is doing the same.
All the hospitals have been on high alert along with 7,000 personnel of the army awaiting orders to scramble to the rescue. The army has evacuated both Masirah and Halaniyat Islands habitants to the Muscat governate until the storm brews over.
According the BBC World Service website, the image the news medium has provided says that Muscat should be expecting another heavy rainshower along with strong winds by 2am Thursday by which at 2pm Thursday it will have moved out of Oman territory between the UAE and Iran.
The Police have urged all citizens and residents who stay nearby the shores to move further inland or safer higher ground as soon as possible for fear of their safety.
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Links:
- Yahoo: Muscat Weather update
- BBC World: in pictures: Cyclone hits Oman
- CNN.com: Rare rains lash Gulf desert states
- Omanforum: Tropical Cyclone to hit Muscat tomorrow
- Oman Tribune: Cyclone Gonu hits Sultanate coast
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
updated news bulletin - part 8: is it a hit and run?
Posted by Sleepless In Muscat at 15:22
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15 comments:
Are you safe if the wadis fill with 10 meters of water ?
Early rains can sink into the ground, and once that is full, it will all come down from the mountains.
This is a 1,000 year event and NOTHING anyone remembers is useful for predicting.
A half meter to one meter of rain are possible and in the hands of God. I have seen this from weak hurricanes (cyclones).
One discussion worth reading is:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2629#comment-198078
Best Hopes,
Alan
Hello,
on http://www.wetteronline.de/ one can see that at 16:00 local time Seeb/Muscat Airport station reported that winds have shifted from N to W, indicating that the cyclone center just must have passed Muscat on its northeastern side.
Best wishes,
Torsten (Hamburg, Germany)
hey everbody......
i'm thinking about al the people who are in tha muscat area.......my boyfriend is working in muscat,oman and im hoping that everthinhg wil be soon over.......
im hoping for the best,
love
danielle from vlissingen,nederland
some scarey stuff!!i hope it ends soon and inshala with no human loses!! stay safe!!
Hello,
at 17:58 local time, Seeb/Muscat Airport station read a pressure of 994 hPa (993 at 17:00), i.e. pressure trend has turned into rising now. Based on the assumption that the strength of the cyclone is not changing significantly now, this means that the cyclone center started to move away from Muscat.
Torsten (Hamburg, Germany)
looks like things are calmin down now...but i guess the next big problem is gonna be the wadis...its gonna be a while before everything settles down.
So.. what now? Has the eye storm passed Muscat or not yet?
major flooding in qurum commercial area. please provid details.
Thanks for the updates. It has been very beneficial, since most of the communication channels are cut off including oman tv (which is blanked out for hours now) and mobiles. Stay safe and inshalah all will be fine once the storm passes by. ameen.
Alan:
of course we're not safe for the reasons that you mentioned. But thank you for the links.
Anonymous: 4:49:
Thanks for the link, but I couldn't tell where to go and what to do. Perhaps you can provide one in English?
danielle:
your worries and concerns are pretty much in their place. but you could perhaps call your boyfriend up to know how he is doing.
Sue:
Thank you for your concern. We're hoping that it would pass by early morning so we can see the damage that has been done.
flowerchild:
Exactly. Though it seems to be still really bad we're actually holding up quite good. The wadis are a major problem in Oman when it is raining.
Amjad:
I'll let you know in a short while.
Cafe de lawati:
I will let you know in the next update.
Jazba:
Will do. And you're quite welcome.
This is a very unique and interesting event. It's the first time we have seen a tropical cyclone strike Oman and Iran since the advent of weather satellite technology. I have been watching this storm with a lot of interest because of the potential impact it may have on the oil market.
I hope you all stay as safe as possible and that loss of life in Oman is as minimal as possible.
Best hopes,
Tom
Phillyweather.net
Philadelphia, PA, USA
There is an English equivalent to http://www.wetteronline.de/, indeed! It is http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/ . On the top center right you can choose the continent you want to investigate. Choose 'Asia' there, then choose the upper 'Middle East' (it is funny to have 'Middle East' twice there, with different lists of countries!), then choose 'Oman' and finally, if desired, the place of interest.
Torsten (Hamburg, Germany)
any1 of u noe whos dead in the storm?are they the citizens of muscat or ppl who are living near seaside??and hows muscat now??i was tryin to call my friend though mobile,but network is busy.....
hows muscat now?i was keep on calling my family there,but seems the network of mobile is down...please someone tell me something about muscat...im worrying about my family there...
Anonymous - 8:51:
Although I would agree with you to some extent, I believe this is not the time to admire the destruction path of natural calamity. Don't you think?
Anonymous - 3:46:
Thank you very much. I was waiting for someone to point something like that out to me.
Adam:
Unfortunately, I have no knowledge about what nationality those 25 individuals who had died. But as it has been reported, the Royal Oman Police had found drifting into the ocean shore - 12 at least.
You'll just have to wait until all the communications are restored and hopefully no one you know would have passed away.
Try getting in touch through your family's landline number. Or try calling every half hour or so.
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