Rehab work in full swing
The Public Authority for Civil Aviation’s declaration of the end of direct impact of Cyclone Mekunu brought big relief to the public. On the field, however, authorities have been fighting against time to bring the infrastructure and other utilities back to normalcy. Flash floods had left debris, mud and stones on roads; especially with Salalah City recording the highest rainfall during the tropical cyclone.
The Darbat falls came into full flow after many decades. But flash floods and storm surge did have their consequences on road network.
One of the first steps towards rehabilitation by the National Emergency Management Centre was to ensure traffic flow to get relief materials, fuel and food as well as non-food items to all locations in Dhofar.
“We had deployed 33 oil tankers to various fuel stations in Dhofar Governorate. In terms of road repair works there has been a deployment of all critical units to assess the damaged. We have managed to have 80 per cent of the roads open for traffic again. Within the next few hours, we are hoping the roads will be widely accessible especially for emergency services and technical response teams who are working towards maintenance,” said Lt Col Faisal al Hajri, Director of NEMC.
Food and non-food items have been supplied to the market. More than 45 trucks carrying food and non-food items were waiting in Thamrait for clearance to move towards Salalah.
Dr Juma al Maskari, Directorgeneral of Oman Meteorology at Public Authority for Civil Aviation, explained that Mekunu downgraded to a tropical storm after landfall continued its path northwest towards Saudi Arabia and Yemen border after that it may diminish.
“The winds have come down to 30 knots and will gradually calm down. The accumulated rain had reached over 500 mm over the mountains in Salalah area,” said Dr Juma al Maskari.
Dr Al Maskeri has also brushed aside rumours in social media of another storm. “What people are circulating are images of monsoon clouds over the Arabian Sea. This is the season for it. For some reason the images they looked at had the same cloud temperature as the clouds over the system were represented with same colours. But I can confirm that there is no system developing over the Arabian Sea right now.”