Oman weather: Rain begins in many parts of Sultanate

Oman Thursday 17/March/2016 09:24 AM
By: Times News Service
Oman weather: Rain begins in many parts of Sultanate

Muscat: Rain has started to fall in Izki, Samail, Amerat and many other areas in northern parts of Oman, weather enthusiast said quoting residents.
“Moderate rain fell in Izki in other areas. Small wadis have started to overflow in Izki,” Bader Ali Al Baddaei, an administrator of www.rthmc.net, a local Web-based forum that discusses weather in Oman, said.
According to the National Multi Hazard Early Warning Centre at the Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA), the Sultanate will be affected by unstable weather from Wednesday.
However, Jason Nicholls, a senior meteorologist at Accuweather.com, said that it will not be as severe as last week,”
PACA has advised the public to take precautions during the rain and avoid crossing wadis (valleys), as well as check the state of the sea before sailing into the waters.
During last week’s rain, the Public Authority of Civil Defence and Ambulance’s (PACDA’s) operations centre received 332 rescue calls.
PACDA statistics recorded 255 water rescue operations, 37 land rescue operations, 29 fire extinguishing operations, eight ambulance-related calls, and four search operations.
As for calls recorded by various governorates, Al Batinah North registered the biggest number, which resulted in 95 rescue operations, followed by Al Dhakhiliyah which recorded 67 rescue operations.
Muscat came in third with 51 rescue operations being conducted, followed by Al Buraimi, which recorded 43 reports. Al Sharqiyah North recorded 27 such incidents, Al Batinah South 26, Dhahira 23, while only one rescue operation was carried out by PACDA in Al Sharqiyah South.
The death toll from the thundershowers and flash floods, which hit Oman last week, has climbed to eight after two more children were found dead.