Sharjah24 – Reuters: Tropical Cyclone Shaheen killed four people as it slammed into Oman on Sunday with ferocious winds and heavy rain, flooding streets, prompting evacuations from coastal areas and delaying flights to and from the capital, Muscat.
As the cyclone approached, a child who had been swept away by water was found dead, the state news agency said, and another missing person was also found dead. Two Asian workers were killed when a hill collapsed on their housing area in an industrial zone, the state news agency reported.
When its eye crossed land, the cyclone was carrying winds of between 120 and 150 km per hour (75-93 mph), Omani authorities said. It was throwing up waves of up to 10 metres (32 feet).
Video footage from Omani broadcasters showed vehicles submerged as people tried to make their way through muddy brown floodwater.
Part of the eyewall of the storm, where the most severe weather occurs, had entered Al Batinah South governorate, the state news agency said. The eye also entered between the states of Musanah and Suwaiq.
Up to 500 cm (20 inches) of rain was expected in some areas, raising the risk of flash floods.
Cyclones steadily lose their power over land and Shaheen was downgraded to a tropical storm after it cleared the ocean, the meteorology service said on Twitter.
The national emergency committee said the power supply would be cut in al-Qurm, east of the capital, to avoid accidents. More than 2,700 people were put up in emergency shelters.
Most of the oil-exporting country's five million people live in and around Muscat. Authorities said roads in the capital would be open only to vehicles on emergency and humanitarian work until the storm dies down.
A wooden ship sank at Sultan Qaboos Port and its crew was rescued, the National Committee for Emergency Management said on Twitter.
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