Heavy rains and flooding continued on Thursday in the Sultanate of Oman and neighbouring GCC states even after the end of low pressure. The Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority carried out helicopter evacuations of 134 people including 105 citizens and 32 nationals from GCC trapped by rains in Wilayat Maha and Lima in Musandam Governorate. “They were transferred to Madha Airport. All of them are in good health,” CDAA said.
A 20-year-old citizen drowned in the Wadi Al Hajar dam in the Wilayat of Ibri. He died enroute to hospital. The Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority (CDAA) said: “A report on the drowning of a 20-year-old citizen in the Wadi Al Hajar dam in the Wilayat of Ibri, where the teams of the CDAA in Al Dhahirah Governorate dealt with the report, and he was transferred to the hospital by the authority’s ambulance teams. But he died.“
The Royal Oman Police (ROP) has temporarily closed the road leading to the Ain Kor area in Dhofar Governorate, due to floods. The ROP said in a statement: “In order to preserve the general safety of tourists and visitors to the Governorate of Dhofar, and in view of the high water level in the Ain Kor tourist area, the Royal Oman Police draws the attention of visitors that the road leading to the area will be temporarily closed until the water level drops.”
The Wilayat of Mad’ha in Musandam Governorate has received 320 mm of rainfall which was the highest amount in the Sultanate of Oman during the last four days. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources said that the Wilayat of Mad’ha recorded 320 mm of rainfall during the period from July 25 to July 28. The Wilayat of Liwa received 161 mm , the Wilayat of Shinas 151 mm, the Wilayat of Khasab 150 mm, Wilayat of Dibba 82 mm, the Wilayat of Barka 65 mm and the Wilayat of Rustaq 65 mm.
Emergency sub-committees deactivated in most Oman governorates
The National Committee for Emergency Management has now deactivated all sub-committees in all governorates of Oman, except for those in North Al Batinah and Musandam.
Authorities are working hard to restore services affected by the weather. Efforts are on to remove debris and rocks from roads to avoid traffic snarls.
Field response teams for basic services like electricity, communications, water, sanitation, fuel and waste management are in full swing to restore normalcy
The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, and the governorates’ municipalities have begun to reopen roads hit by rainfall in a number of governorates, where priority has been given to main roads so that the movement of basic services and commercial and economic activities are not affected
Electricity was restored by the companies in the Musandam Governorate, in coordination with the Royal Air Force of Oman and the Royal Oman Police, which worked to provide helicopters to transport technicians to repair faults at the power plant in Musandam Governorate. Work is still under way on restoration of service on a number of other sites. The companies also dealt with a number of power outages in a number of governorates, and the electricity service was restored as usual.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and companies are working on restoring telecom services that were affected in the governorates of Musandam and North Al Batinah after many mobile towers fell down.
Authorities and companies were also working to restore water supply after lines were hit by floods in the governorates of Musandam and North Al Batinah.
Fuel and cooking gas services in governorates were not affected thanks to the measures taken by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion and companies. The waste management service continues to be affected temporarily as a result of the rainfall.
The Basic Services Sector Committee urged citizens and residents to utilise call centre support for electricity, water and communications services.
