Four arrested in Oman after car swept away in wadi flooded by record rainfall

Police share video of 4x4 vehicle being flipped around in fast-flowing water

Screenshots from a video posted by Royal Oman Police on social media showing a group of four citizens trying to cross a valley in the Wadi Bani Ghafer area. Photo: Royal Oman Police

Four people were arrested in Oman's Al Batinah governorate on Sunday after attempting to drive through a wadi flowing with water and being washed away.

The Royal Oman Police force shared a video of a 4x4 car driving into the fast-flowing waters of Wadi Ban Ghafer, before being flipped around by the gushing brown water.

They said they had been arrested for “deliberately crossing a valley in the Wadi Bani Ghafer area in the Wilayat of Rustaq, exposing themselves to danger, and legal procedures are being completed against them to refer them to the judicial authorities”.

Oman has recently been experiencing heavy rainfall. Nineteen people were killed earlier this month when rainfall sparked flooding and wadis filled up quickly.

In the last two days, 59 millimetres of rain has fallen in Jebel Akhdar and 53mm in Al Batinah, where the car was swept away, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources said on Tuesday.

Authorities have intervened in a number of cases involving people getting too close to wadis, or attempting to cross them.

Oman's Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority has warned citizens and residents that the sultanate is expecting heavy rains in the north of the country on Wednesday.

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  Flooding has hit southern Oman, including the city of Salalah and the nearby towns of Mirbat, Taqa, Rakhyut and Dhalkut. All photos: Oman News Agency

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  Flooding along a motorway

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  Flood waters flow alongside a motorway

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  Thunderstorms had been expected during the Eid Al Adha holidays, according to Oman's Civil Aviation Authority

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  Low cloud hangs over a wadi. Officials said more rain is expected in some areas

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  Heavy rain falls in Salalah, the capital of the southern Dhofar province

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  Low cloud hangs over a town

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  Officials said that lives could be lost if motorists attempted to drive across flooded wadis

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  Waterfalls outside Salalah after heavy thunderstorms