Posted on 06/05/2007 8:05:42 AM PDT by Sax
MUSCAT, Oman More people have fled their homes in Oman's eastern coastal towns as a powerful cyclone approaches the oil-rich Gulf area, police officials said Tuesday.
Cyclone Gonu, with winds of 160 miles per hour and gusts of 195 miles per hour, is heading northwest through the Indian Ocean toward Oman's east coast.
Authorities on Monday evacuated nearly 7,000 people from Masirah, a lowland island off the east coast of Oman, said General Malik bin Suleiman al-Muamri, head of the country's civil defense.
He said that a state of emergency was declared in the affected area, including mobilizing army and police forces to help provide shelter and medical services. More families were also leaving their homes in towns on the mainland on Tuesday, officials said. The government said schools and public building were emptied to make room for the evacuees.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Time to dump oil and replace it with something domestic. I’m afraid we’re not going to do it until it’s too late.
Absolutely Amazing! Copiapo ship is a direct hit. I hope they survive.
And, once again, even a "weak" Cat 3 is nothing to sneeze at when you live below friggin' sea level.
As I said, wind damage was mostly trees and roofs, not flattened structures. My point, in case you're interested, is that in NOLA people died because levees and floodwalls whose design and construction were the responsibility of the Federal government failed at loads well below their design limits.
Except that the surge from Katrina was NOT Cat 3, but Cat 5. The surge in Mississippi exceeded that from Camille. Katrina was a huge storm and put in motion a tremendous wall of water well before it weakened.
Those who were trapped or otherwise harmed by floods suffered becasuse they'd relied on the Federal government to provide the safety it had undertaken to provide and had assured us was in place.
Which is stupid on many levels.
I am sure the local government spent the million of dollars of pre Katrina funding for the levees properly
As I looked more at their location and tracking for that ship I see that the plot listed is 48 hours old. Hopefully that ship passed ahead of the plot for the storm which is more current.
here is another interesting link with sat photos of Oman coastal towns and storm track discussions.
Imapact is discussed as well
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=690&tstamp=200706
My point, in case you’re interested, is that in NOLA people died because levees and floodwalls whose design and construction were the responsibility of the Federal government failed at loads well below their design limits.
— Didn’t Greenpeace sue the Army Corps of Engineers to halt the upgrade on the levee system back in the 1990s?
Really shows how the mountains might impact the rainfall
In five years we will know a lot more of the history of what happened in the Levee Districts involved.
Thanks. I wonder if The Palms will survive the storm surge.
Others have been speculating about those artificial islands as well on some of the blogs.
Nothing to sneeze at, but nothing we haven't handled before. Anyway, the older and more famous parts of NOLA aren't below sea level. You don't know as much as you think you know.
Except that the surge from Katrina was NOT Cat 3, but Cat 5.
Excuse me; that was in Mississippi, not here. A cat. 5 surge would have overtopped our levees. That never happened. You seem to be in denial about this.
Which is stupid on many levels.
Are you saying the government of the United States is less competent or just less trustworthy than the governemnt of Holland? Because they have flood control well in hand.
Oversight of levee construction is a federal task. The floodwall and levee failures stemmed from flawed design and construction, not poor maintenance.
Bob: Is she Hungary?
Tom: Alaska.
Mary: Yes, Siam.
Tom: All right, I’ll Fiji.
Bob: Oh, don’t Russia self.
Tom: Yeah, but what if she Wales?
Bob: Just get her a Canada Chile.
Mary: I’d rather have Turkey.
BBC has some story with local comments posted on a site.
The comments are as follows:
I have lived in Oman for nearly 10 years and I have never experienced something like this. The schools are closed, we have been told the water and power is going to be cut. We have also been told to fill buckets and bathtubs with water and to stock up on food supplies for at least 5 days! The houses in Oman are not strong enough to withstand the winds and the rain is pouring down inside our homes. Even though we know we are going to be safe, there will be alot of damage done and it is not safe outside the house.
Andre Waerness-Vold, Muscat, Oman
I live in the Madinat Qaboos area that is near where last March’s devastating drench flooded the Qurum area and flooded the entire area whilst putting an instant halt to business for two whole days. It is said that we would feel the force of it by 2am Oman Main Time. I am hoping that this cyclone will just blow by the coastal area and never hit Muscat. It doesn’t seem we really are prepared and the disaster would be outstanding.
Ali Mehdi, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
I live and work in Oman for the past 12 years and I love this beautiful country. This is one of the most clean and organised countries in the world. However, we are all informed about the forthcoming threat of Gonu cyclone. His Majesty the Ruler of this country has kindly declared holidays from today till Saturday 9 June. There is high security arrangement and the people from the coastal area have been evacuated to safer destination and these people are well cared for.
Mary Vasaikar, Muscat, Oman
All offices and public institutions have closed down in anticipation of the cyclone. I doubt anything but the general food stores and coffee shops will be open tomorrow. It’s actually 19:10 Tuesday evening and there is the most incredible sunset I have ever seen in Oman, everything is quite calm and there are lots of clouds which is unusual for this time of year.
Daniel , Nizwa, Oman
Clouds have been over coastal mountains since this morning - no rain yet - winds constant at about 15-20 mph - feels like a storm is coming..but not yet.
Michael Benz, Muscat, Oman
I am living in Qurm which is the main commercial area of Muscat. Weather conditions are stable. There skies are very cloudy with a little bit of wind. The sea is closer than it usually is to the shore. Other than that all is good where weather is concerned.
Mohammed Al Moosa, Qurm ,Oman
The Omani government has declared holidays from today until Sunday. Till 19:00 hrs the thing are normal on weather front but a strange kind calmness is witness here.
Sagar Kulkarni, Muscat, Oman
Nothing much, as yet. Very heavy cloud cover, but no rain in central Muscat (18.48 local time). Storm predicted to hit Muscat between 12 midnight and 2 a.m. local time. All business and schools closed at 2 p.m. today and many people headed to petrol stations and supermarkets who quickly reported selling out of fuel, food and water. We are 50 metres from beach and although sea is choppy, there is no other sign of an impending storm.
jane, Muscat, Oman
We had cyclone in 1981 and 300 peoples died in Oman, but we expect this one to be much bigger than the one we had in 1981, but this time the government is well ahead prepared for the outcome, let us hope we will overcome the tragedy. Jamal Y. Jaffer - Muscat
Jamal Yousuf Jaffer, Wadi Kabir, Muscat - Oman
It has been a very hectic day here in Muscat. In the afternoon the queues in the supermarkets were up to 3 hours long. Everything has been closed down now. If you have not been able to get groceries by now, then forget it. People are staying inside. The waves in Muttrah which is the port of Muscat have started to reach over the barriers and onto the roads. The authorities are keeping regular updates on the television.
Kristin Norman Berg, Muscat, Oman
We have lived here for a few years now and have seen some pretty serious storms. However, people seem to be panicking about this one, and I can only assume it is because we are actually getting warnings about it. There is little to no adequate drainage here and that always compounds any issue with rain fall. People are always getting flooded out in Muscat, but people are always ready to help each other here... no matter their nationality or religion.
Alison Hardy, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
I don’t know, and in any case it doesn’t matter. The levee/floodwall failures resulted from faulty design and construction. The Corps was never contemplating upgrades that would have remedied what ended up going wrong.
I suggest that “jane” who lives 50 meters from the beach and says that the sea is just choppy right now should seek a more remote place to hunker down.
I know quite a bit more than you are pretending I don't know. I am well aware that the French Quarter is largely above sea level. However, last I checked, a large number of rescues were carried out from the rooftops of homes submerged to the eaves.
Excuse me; that was in Mississippi, not here. A cat. 5 surge would have overtopped our levees. That never happened. You seem to be in denial about this.
Read the dynamics of the surge and get back to me. The approach of the storm pushed a large wall of water both up the Mississippi and into Lake Ponchatrain. It was a worst-case hit for surge into NOLA.
Are you saying the government of the United States is less competent or just less trustworthy than the governemnt of Holland? Because they have flood control well in hand.
No, what is stupid is for ANYONE to stay in place with a Cat 5 bearing down on them. In case the obvious is hard to grasp, by the time Katrina weakened, it was too late to evacuate anyway - so your claim that those who stayed behind were believing themselves to be safe from a Cat 3 is pure nonsense - they didn't know that during the evacuation window. And the forecasters didn't realize just how much surge was coming - which is why you don't count on ANYTHING other than evacuation in the face of a major hurricane. And that also is EXACTLY WHY you don't count on the government to protect you.
Oh, and BTW, Holland doesn't have hurricanes, either. The worst North Sea storm is NOTHING like Katrina.
So quit being an apologist for those too stupid to get in their cars and get out of harm's way. Blaming the fedgov is wrongheaded and stupid.
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