Normalising after Gonu

MUSCAT –

Efforts to restore normalcy following the trail of destruction and devastation left by Tropical Cyclone Gonu are going on at a hectic pace.

The Muscat Municipality has arranged hordes of workers to clear all the roads of the mud and muck, while the army and the police have combined together to reach out to the people who have been stranded in villages.

His Majesty the Sultan’s wise decision to declare holidays till today has helped matters a lot as the municipality and rescue workers were able to work unhindered to clear the roads and help the injured and the affected people.

Almost all the main areas have been filled with storm water and municipality workers were working non-stop trying to clear and clean the roads.

Many of the tree-lined avenues are no longer the same as the force of the gale packed a punch and felled many of the beautiful neem trees like nine pins and blocked many of the roads.

Civic workers were engaged in cutting and sawing off the trunks and branches of these trees as they blocked many of the roads.

The areas which were in elevated position like parts of Ruwi, CBD, Al Falaz, Darsait, Mutrah, Qurum and Al Khuwair, escaped the wrath of the flood waters.

But most of the low lying areas, especially Ghubra and surrounding areas, bore the brunt of the rain and flood waters.

Unofficial sources said that gates of some dams in the mountains surrounding Muscat had to be opened as they began to overflow and this brought the flood water quickly into the residential areas.

This was corroborated by residents who said that water flooded their houses in just a matter of minutes and they had no time to save their belongings and had to flee to upper rooms and flats to save themselves.

Wadi Adai has been practically cut off because both the main road as well the service road which lead to this village have been cut off.

While parts of the main highway going to Quriyat near Wadi Adai was cut off by the swirling wadi waters, the other smaller road was also washed off.

The army has been commissioned to reach out to the inhabitants of this village with food, water and medicine.

Defence trucks were seen ferrying all the supplies to this area.

Vehicles of the Royal Oman Police as well from the army were patrolling all areas to ensure normalcy in all the areas.

The Seeb International Airport, which was shut down with the arrival of the cyclone, has resumed operations with Oman Air operating its flights since early morning on Friday.

Soon other flights also began to operate from the airport which has come back to normal, airport officials said here.

Many expatriate families who were about to leave on their annual vacation were hemmed in their homes by the storm and the cancellation of the flights.

Now they are not sure as to when they would get the tickets because of the passenger backlog.

Cable television operators also are working overtime to restore some sanity among their customers as the dish antennas on most homes had blown away with the wind cutting of the window to the world.

Meanwhile, many of the pews in the Ruwi church were also empty on Friday because of the lack of the taxis which used to transport the faithfuls for their prayers.