Oman weather: Flash flood alert system to be installed soon

Muscat: An early warning flash flood alert system to save lives and protect property will be operational in Oman by summer.
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As forecasters again predict more rain, officials at the Oman Meteorology Department said work on the new system is at an advanced stage with July the target 'go live' date.
Many locations across the Sultanate are prone to flash flooding, especially in the wadis, since 2003 the rapidly rising waters have claimed 93 lives and caused hundreds of thousands of rials of damage.
“The system is still under installation; some of the functions have been checked for accuracy and quality control. So far the preliminary results show promising results for the stakeholders and the general community,” the official said in a statement to Times of Oman.
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The new system uses satellite derived precipitation (rain, hail, sleet or even snow at high ground) and radar technology.
Explaining how it works, the official said that flash flood guidance system will assist the forecasters in their effort to provide reliable and timely flash flood warnings.
“They will integrate the latest developments in monitoring capabilities, such as satellite derived precipitation, radar technology, ground-station data, with the most recent advances in numerical weather prediction modeling. It will use all of the different data sources to predict what will happen on landscape with respect to soil moisture and other important features that generate flash floods,” he elaborated.
Terming flash floods are a world-wide hazard, the official said unlike other weather-related events with specific geographic locations, every location where rain falls is vulnerable, from the tropics to the sub-polar regions.
“Flash floods, however, have a different character than river floods, notably short time scales and occurring in small spatial scales, which make forecasting quite a different challenge than traditional floods. The most important things that the Oman flash flood guidance products can accomplish is to empowering forecasters to be able to improve their flash floods prediction to save lives and reduce economic losses.”
Regarding the importance of such a project, he said since flash floods are among the most devastating of natural disasters, it is essential that flash flood warnings be formulated in a short time with as much specificity in timing and location as possible. “
As significant rainfall events may cover large areas, this information may be needed for multiple basins at once. This is a very challenging situation for forecasters and some type of guidance is necessary to organise the real-time data and information from multiple sources into easily usable and interpretable products, which are amenable to operational modification in a timely manner,” he said.
Key facts
* Some of the deaths due to flooding in Oman
* 20 people were drowned in Bahla in 2003.
* Cyclone Gonu in 2007 left 49 dead.
* Cyclone Phet in 2010 left 6 dead.
* 4 people were dead in heavy rainfall in Hajar Mountains in September 2015.
* In October 2015, 8 people were killed after several parts of Oman were hit by heavy rains.
* Then on March 2016, 8 people were killed when thundershowers and flash floods hit Oman.

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