Flash floods wreak havoc as heavy rain lashes Ibri, Rustaq and Suwaiq

Heavy rain threw life out of gear in Rustaq, Suwaiq and Ibri. By 11am itself, roads were cut off due to flash floods. Children and teachers were airlifted by police rescue team from a school in Rustaq, Bader Ali Al Baddaei, administrator of www.rthmc.net,

MUSCAT: Heavy rain fell in Rustaq, Suwaiq and Ibri resulting in overflowing of wadis, cutting off roads and prompting authorities to close school, a weather enthusiast quoting residents said.

“Heavy rain threw life out of gear Rustaq, Suwaiq and Ibri. By 11am itself, roads were cut off due to flash floods. Children and teachers were airlifted by police rescue team from a school in Rustaq. Flash floods left many stranded,” said Bader Ali Al Baddaei, an administrator of www.rthmc.net, a local Web-based forum that discusses weather in Oman.

“At many places, schoolchildren had to travel through mountains as roads were cut off due to overflowing wadis. Citizens volunteered to ferry children to safe places,” Bader added.

Earlier in the day itself, the Directorate General of Education in Al Dahira Governorate tweeted on its official Twitter handle that all schools in the governorate will remain closed today due to the weather conditions as a precautionary step.

Meanwhile, residents in cities and villages in different parts of northern Oman also reported heavy rain since morning.

“It was raining heavily in Barka, Mussanah, Hoqain, Quriyat, Samail and other places. In Ibri, there were hail storm too,” residents said.

“At many places, flood water had entered houses,” residents added.

In Hoqain, public authority for civil defence and ambulances personnel rescued a person who got stuck in his in vehicle in an overflowing wadi.

According to national committee for civil defence (NCCD) tweets, traffic movement between Suwaiq-Muscat and Ibri-Rustaq was road cut off due to overflowing of wadis.

In its forecast for Thursday, Oman meteorology department has predicted, rain and thunder showers in Batinah, Dakhlia, Muscat, Sharqiya, Wusta and Dhofar.

In a special notice, Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) has advised public to take extra caution during rain.

On Sunday, Oman’s meteorological department had predicted heavy rain in the northern parts of Oman from Tuesday till Thursday, due to a deep upper air trough.

Eric Leister, a meteorologist at Accuweatehr.com, has posted that rain and thunderstorms would continue to pose flooding threat in Oman and the United Arab Emirates through Wednesday.

Al Ain to Rustaq

The meteorologist says that locally heavy thunderstorms will track from Al Ain to Rustaq into Wednesday, impacting areas that received flooding rainfall earlier in the month.

“A few locations could receive as much as 50 mm (2.0 inches) of rain, though most areas will receive 13 mm (0.50 of an inch) or less. Muscat will be at greatest risk for thunderstorms and flash flooding into Wednesday evening. While it will not rain this entire time, any thunderstorm can produce downpours capable of causing flash flooding and travel delays,” the meteorologist added.

Hotter summer from May

However, according to global meteorologists, after a wet April, Oman has to brace for a hotter summer starting from May.

“More prolonged heat and dryness is likely, starting in late April. Compared to previous years, May will be hotter,” Jason Nicholls, a senior meteorologist at Accuweather.com, had said.

“We can see dry and warm to hot weather coming to Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as early as late April, with most indications being for a warmer-thannormal and likely drier-than-normal May,” the meteorologist said, adding that despite a rainy March, temperatures for the month had averaged 1.1 degrees Celsius above normal in Oman. -