Cyclone Gonu
Hey!
I know you won’t believe me, but I was halfway through planning and writing a blog. However, in the wake of Cyclone Gonu I figured it was more relevant to write about that and leave my 5 month catchup for next time.
You may or may not have even heard about Cyclone Gonu, I diligently sent emails, pictures and texts to family during the time we were affected, and then some days later my father-in-law emailed me and said it had just made the news in New Zealand and that he thought I had just been joking around!!
It all started Tuesday 5th June with rumours and talk about a tropical storm coming our way. They are a superstitious bunch here, a psychic weeks earlier had created havoc with a tsunami prediction that never eventuated. So we took it all with a pinch of salt.
By the afternoon though the government announced that all organisations should close and that everyone should prepare to stay at home with enough food and water for 4 days. There was talk of a storm equal to Hurricane Katrina (New Orleans) with 200km winds, and 15 metre waves.
Mild panic set in with enormous queues at the supermarkets and petrol stations, and stories of people evacuating to Dubai.
As the weather was still hot and sunny it was hard to believe what was supposed to be heading our way. We even had a bit of a pre-storm party with neighbours around the pool that night.
The rain started about midnight and continued all day Wednesday. For our group of friends from Denmark, New Zealand and Scotland, the rain was nothing life threatening and we even went swimming in it.
By 4pm Wednesday afternoon texts started flying around that the eye of the storm was only 15 minutes away and had blown out all the windows at the Dive Centre. That was probably the most frightened we got and we rushed to move electronics, passports, photographs and precious documents to a ‘safe’ part of the house.
We waited and waited and nothing happened, just a continuation of the rain. It seemed like a bit of an anticlimax after all the preparation and waiting, and I gaily sent off emails saying what a let down Cyclone Gonu was…..what we didn’t realise was how protected (we are approx 1km in from the sea) and how fortunate we were in the garden court.
We went out for a drive that night and again the next morning, our heads hung in shame at what others experienced during the storm. There was complete and utter devastation in some parts of Muscat, raging rivers where roads once stood, building labourers wet and shivering in their onsite living quarters (shacks) and complete normality in other parts. The experience and aftermath of the cyclone varies so much amongst our friends, two families losing everything in the bottom floor of their houses, vehicles completely submerged and written off, and one family stormed and burgled by a group of men they hired several days later in an effort to clean the mud out of their house and garden.
We haven’t stopped counting our lucky stars and are almost embarrassed to say that the biggest inconvenience we suffered was being without power for half a day, and having no fresh water for three days.
School has been out for over a week, and I’ve heard today that they believe 25% of students have left Oman already, weeks early for the summer.
To the credit of the authorities here we have been amazed at how quickly they mobilised maintenance crews and begun remedial works on the roads. However, much of the damage sustained was due to flooding from all the rain, rather than the wind and waves, We have experienced three other rains since arriving here last March, with similar (but not as severe) results – you wonder why questions aren’t being asked about how to better flood proof the city with proper drainage and management of the wadis.
I have included some photos mostly our own and one from the local newspaper.
I know you won’t believe me, but I was halfway through planning and writing a blog. However, in the wake of Cyclone Gonu I figured it was more relevant to write about that and leave my 5 month catchup for next time.
You may or may not have even heard about Cyclone Gonu, I diligently sent emails, pictures and texts to family during the time we were affected, and then some days later my father-in-law emailed me and said it had just made the news in New Zealand and that he thought I had just been joking around!!
It all started Tuesday 5th June with rumours and talk about a tropical storm coming our way. They are a superstitious bunch here, a psychic weeks earlier had created havoc with a tsunami prediction that never eventuated. So we took it all with a pinch of salt.
By the afternoon though the government announced that all organisations should close and that everyone should prepare to stay at home with enough food and water for 4 days. There was talk of a storm equal to Hurricane Katrina (New Orleans) with 200km winds, and 15 metre waves.
Mild panic set in with enormous queues at the supermarkets and petrol stations, and stories of people evacuating to Dubai.
As the weather was still hot and sunny it was hard to believe what was supposed to be heading our way. We even had a bit of a pre-storm party with neighbours around the pool that night.
The rain started about midnight and continued all day Wednesday. For our group of friends from Denmark, New Zealand and Scotland, the rain was nothing life threatening and we even went swimming in it.
By 4pm Wednesday afternoon texts started flying around that the eye of the storm was only 15 minutes away and had blown out all the windows at the Dive Centre. That was probably the most frightened we got and we rushed to move electronics, passports, photographs and precious documents to a ‘safe’ part of the house.
We waited and waited and nothing happened, just a continuation of the rain. It seemed like a bit of an anticlimax after all the preparation and waiting, and I gaily sent off emails saying what a let down Cyclone Gonu was…..what we didn’t realise was how protected (we are approx 1km in from the sea) and how fortunate we were in the garden court.
We went out for a drive that night and again the next morning, our heads hung in shame at what others experienced during the storm. There was complete and utter devastation in some parts of Muscat, raging rivers where roads once stood, building labourers wet and shivering in their onsite living quarters (shacks) and complete normality in other parts. The experience and aftermath of the cyclone varies so much amongst our friends, two families losing everything in the bottom floor of their houses, vehicles completely submerged and written off, and one family stormed and burgled by a group of men they hired several days later in an effort to clean the mud out of their house and garden.
We haven’t stopped counting our lucky stars and are almost embarrassed to say that the biggest inconvenience we suffered was being without power for half a day, and having no fresh water for three days.
School has been out for over a week, and I’ve heard today that they believe 25% of students have left Oman already, weeks early for the summer.
To the credit of the authorities here we have been amazed at how quickly they mobilised maintenance crews and begun remedial works on the roads. However, much of the damage sustained was due to flooding from all the rain, rather than the wind and waves, We have experienced three other rains since arriving here last March, with similar (but not as severe) results – you wonder why questions aren’t being asked about how to better flood proof the city with proper drainage and management of the wadis.
I have included some photos mostly our own and one from the local newspaper.
See also http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6722749.stm if you are interested
Take care all
Hayls and Co
Take care all
Hayls and Co
Swimming in the rain - morning of Gonu
The rooftop of McDs at Qurum (The Week)
A family rescuing items from home the morning after
Surveying missing segments of road - Part 1
Surveying missing segments of road - Part 2
Muddied flood water in the foreground and the beautiful Arabian Sea in the distance
A common sight around Muscat
Comments
Look forward to seeing you all back in NZ where the worst you'll probably get at the moment is frostbite ;-)