• Moderate to heavy rain resulted in a number of valleys and reefs across Oman being flooded. Photo: Oman News Agency
    Moderate to heavy rain resulted in a number of valleys and reefs across Oman being flooded. Photo: Oman News Agency
  • Rain that lashed mountain villages flooded the valley below and flowed into Wadi Gul Dam in Al Dakhiliyah province. Photo: Oman News Agency
    Rain that lashed mountain villages flooded the valley below and flowed into Wadi Gul Dam in Al Dakhiliyah province. Photo: Oman News Agency
  • Civil defence workers rescued three people after their vehicle was stranded in a flooded wadi. Photo: Oman Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority
    Civil defence workers rescued three people after their vehicle was stranded in a flooded wadi. Photo: Oman Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority
  • One Asian died in a flooded valley Jebel Shams in the sultanate's north. Photo: Oman Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority
    One Asian died in a flooded valley Jebel Shams in the sultanate's north. Photo: Oman Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority
  • A severe weather warning was issued on Thursday, with a forecast for 30 millimetres to 80mm of rain in a 24 hour period. Photo: Oman News Agency
    A severe weather warning was issued on Thursday, with a forecast for 30 millimetres to 80mm of rain in a 24 hour period. Photo: Oman News Agency
  • Police have warned people to stay away from wadis during the storms, which can fill up fast and without warning. Photo: Oman News Agency
    Police have warned people to stay away from wadis during the storms, which can fill up fast and without warning. Photo: Oman News Agency
  • Civil defence workers prepare to rescue four people, including children, at a house surrounded by rising floodwaters near Jebel Shams. Photo: Oman Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority
    Civil defence workers prepare to rescue four people, including children, at a house surrounded by rising floodwaters near Jebel Shams. Photo: Oman Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority

Four dead and seven rescued in Oman as heavy rain causes flooding


Taylor Heyman
  • English
  • Arabic

One adult and three children were killed in flash flooding in Oman's Dhakiliyah and Rustaq governorates on Thursday, as rain continues to lash the sultanate.

An Asian expatriate man, was swept away in a valley in the Wilayat of Al Hamra in the central Dakhiliyah governorate earlier on Thursday. His body was recovered by the rescue teams from the Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority (CDAA).

Later, two drowning children aged nine and 10 were rescued by citizens in Wadi Al Sahtan, Rustaq, but later died in hospital. A 6-year-old child drowned in Wadi Bani Awf in the Wilayat of Rustaq and was found dead.

Oman's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issued a severe weather warning on Thursday for the governorates of Muscat, Al Sharqiyah, Dakhiliyah, Al Batinah, Dhahirah, Wusta and Dhofar. It said between 30 and 80 millimetres of rain could fall in a 24-hour period.

Strong winds are also expected, the CAA said. The CDAA warned residents to avoid lighting and electrical poles and to watch out for dangling wires.

Police urged people during the storms to stay away from wadis, which can fill up fast and without warning.

The CDAA rescues in Dhakiliya governorate include getting a family of four to safety in Jebel Shams, and saving a family of three from a car stuck in Wadi Shaya.

In Rustaq, the force of flowing water carried away part of a road near Wadi Al Sahtan. Police used a helicopter to take two people to hospital after the road was partially washed away.

Updated: July 10, 2022, 5:47 AM