Muscat: A heavy downpour in the northern parts of Oman has claimed three lives while police helicopters continue their search for two more, one each in Rustaq and Muttrah, who had gone missing in the rain yesterday.
A portion of the ceiling of Muscat Grand Mall in Ghubra collapsed during the rain.
In a Facebook post on its official page at around 8pm, the mall official reported that rain water drainage pipes on the roof had burst during the rain.
“Shops in the affected area has been shut and the repair works are going on,” the post added.
“Four people went missing in an overflowing wadi in Rustaq. Following the alert, a search and rescue mission was launched. Late in the evening, three people were found dead,” tweeted the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA) on its official twitter account.
According to sources in Rustaq, two of the dead were identified as an Omani homemaker and her expatriate housemaid.
The details of the third victim had not yet been ascertained till the filing of this report.
The search for one was still going on in Rustaq.
Meanwhile, the police and the coast guard were also searching for a person who had gone missing in the floods in Muttrah following the rain.
“The rescue team, in co-ordination with the coast guard, has launched a search for the missing person,” tweeted PACDA.
There were unconfirmed reports that a Bangladeshi citizen who jumped into the water at the Corniche to rescue the missing person was later rescued by the coast guard.
Meanwhile, the police are ready to meet any emergency at the Al Nadha hospital if needed, which often gets flooded in rains.
“Police vehicles and ambulances are on standby to meet any kind of emergency,” the police tweeted.
The rain, wind and dust storm which started at around 2pm in the northern parts of Oman brought life to a standstill by 3pm.
“Al Batinah region was the worst hit. By noon itself, people had started reporting rain in different parts of the region. While, Suwaiq and surrounding areas were hit by a sandstorm, Saham and many other areas were cut off by overflowing wadis,” said Bader Ali Al Baddaei, an administrator of www.rthmc.net, a local Web-based forum that discusses weather trends in Oman.
“In Muscat, heavy rain has resulted in the overflowing of wadis, whileroads in Amerat and Quriyat have been badly damaged. While, Hamriyah was cut off for a few hours due to the floods, low lying areas in Qurum, Bausher and Al Khuwair were inundated,” added Bader.
Residents in Hamriyah and Al Khuwair also confirmed the same.
“Following the rain, the roads were flooded and traffic was affected,” said Manoj Kumar, a resident ofHamriyah.
Main roads and subways were blocked by overflowing wadis and a number of roads in Muscat were closed by the Royal Oman Police (ROP).
“Bausher – Amerat road has been closed as rocks have fallen on parts of the road making it impossible for vehiclesto pass. The Sultan Qaboos road from Ghubra flyover to Khuwair flyover was also closed due to waterlogging in the area,” said an ROP official.
In Muttrah, residents and shop owners said that the condition was really bad.
“The roads and shops were inundated within minutes. We couldnot retrieve much. Most of the shopkeepersin the Souq have suffered huge losses,” said Mohammed Navas, a businessman in the Souq.
“Each shopkeeper may have lostbetween OMR3,000 andOMR5,000 worth of goods,” added Navas.
In another incident, a part of a ceiling in a shopping mall in Ghubra collapsed sending visitors into a panic.
It could not be confirmed whether the accident happened because of the rain, but the video of the roof collapse was widely circulated on social media.
Officials from the mall were not available for comment.
Meanwhile, in its 48-hour forecast, the Oman meteorological department has predicted more rain in northern and central parts of Oman.
“Conditions at sea will be rough and waves will reach a height of threemetres,” added the forecast.
Soon after the rain began, the ROP and PACDA were continuously tweeting about safety measures to be adopted during the rain.
“Think about your children before risking your life to cross an overflowing wadi,” read one tweet.
Late in the night the police tweeted that a family is missing following the rain without providing much details.
