Oman weather: Our heroes keeping you safe

Energy Sunday 14/April/2019 21:24 PM
By: Times News Service

Muscat: At least 30 people have been rescued in a single day from wadis across the Sultanate by the heroes at the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA).

Over the past 24 hours, the Sultanate has been engulfed by an area of low pressure covering nearly the entire country. As a result of the heavy rains, flash floods appeared, leading to a spike in rescue operations.
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The Public Authority for Civil Aviation announced that the worst of the adverse weather is over, and conditions are settling down.
The first reported rescue operation began at 20:41 on Saturday night, when a team from the Department of Civil Defence and Ambulance in Muscat rescued four citizens after water flooded their home in Al Amerat.
Teams from various departments of civil defence and ambulance throughout the Sultanate took part in rescue operations, in Wilayats such as Al Amerat, Diba, Khasab, Dhank, Ibri, Ibra, Al Musanna, and Adam.
An official from the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance told Times of Oman, “The majority of the reports we receive involve people who cross wadis, and so our main advice is for citizens and expats not to risk this.”
Many of the of rescue operations involved vehicles. Thankfully, none of the 30 rescued individuals were badly hurt, with only one Asian national reported to have sustained slight injuries.
Locals have also aided authorities by selflessly volunteering to rescue people trapped in wadis.
In a statement, the Royal Oman Police said: “We have reports of a family trapped in a vehicle in Wadi Siq - Wilayat Al Kamil Wa Al Wafi. They’re currently being rescued by local citizens.”
In another case, “Police received a report of a person trapped inside his vehicle in Wadi Al Ais in Wilayat Al Musannah, where he’s currently being rescued by citizens.”
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Rainfall recorded
The Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources released data produced by its rainfall monitoring stations which recorded the amount of rainfall between April 12 to 14 and announced that since Friday, Diba had recorded the highest amount of rain with 99mm.
During that period, Rustaq recorded the second highest amount of rainfall with 80mm, followed by Nizwa with 79mm and Ibri with 70mm.
Saiq in Jabel Akhtar recorded a rainfall of 75 mm since the rain began pouring on Saturday, according to a senior official of the Directorate General of Meteorology and Air Navigation at the Civil Aviation Affairs in the Transport and Communications Ministry.
According to an expert, 75mm of rainfall within a span of 24 hours is huge. “The yearly average rainfall in Sultanate of Oman is around 117 mm ,” he told Times of Oman. In 2017, Oman received an average rainfall of 74.8mm
Up until 1.30 pm on Sunday, Muscat had recorded 36mm of rainfall.

Back to business
Classes in schools and universities resume today after the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education announced that they would be closed for one day [on Sunday] due to the weather conditions.
In the statement, the Ministry of Education said, “After coordinating with the Multi-Hazard Early Warning Centre, the Ministry of Education would like to announce schooling in private and government schools will be resumed on Monday, 15 April 2019.”
In another case, “Police received a report of a person trapped inside his vehicle in Wadi Al Ais in Wilayat Al Musannah, where he’s currently being rescued by citizens.”