Cyclone Gonu passed Muscat Oman around 13.00hrs on Wednesday 6^th June – or at least the eye did; and what an eye. Here NASA caught the Cyclone 2 days earlier as it moved northwest into the Gulf of Oman; the wind speeds some 200kmph and its stately forward progress 18kmph.

http://www.gulf-news.com/region/Oman/10129969.html.

This Cyclone is most probably the strongest since a storm struck Oman in 1890. That one devastated substantial areas of Date palm plantations as it appears to have headed inland rather than the track of Guno which is roughly parallel to the coast.

The areas that are the most vulnerable to such events in Oman are around the eastern peninsular, the land is low lying and the fishing communities have their homes at beach level – the government therefore mobilized emergency services in advance and local TV showed images of schools receiving people before the storm struck.

In Muscat before the main impact, such was the strength of the wind at times, water flowed up-hill and seeing horizontal rain coming from two opposing directions at the same time was extraordinary. Such were the torrents of rain that the steep barren mountains around Muscat were full of mini waterfalls.

A few days before Gonu came mid-day temperature in Muscat was around 44c today it has dropped to 24c and as a result the water coming out of the cold taps in my flat, which during summer can be scalding, was remarkably cold – the immersion heater was turned on as the air-conditioners were switched off.

There have been the advance warnings and the government announcing public holidays to enable people to stay at home to try and avoid loss of life. Time will tell.