Oman residents 'will be warned if cyclone imminent'

Oman residents 'will be warned if cyclone imminent'
By Sunil K. Vaidya, Bureau Chief GULF NEWS Published: May 22, 2008

Muscat: A senior member of the National Committee for Civil Defence (NCCD) in Oman yesterday told Gulf News that the local authorities would forewarn residents about any impending cyclone.

Reacting to a Gulf News report, based on a forecast on Monday by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), on the possibility of a storm hitting the Oman/UAE coast on May 29, Lieutenant Colonel Azhar Al Kindi, a senior NCCD member, said: "None of the reports or forecasts are talking about 'it' coming but have only raised the possibility of it."

He stressed that the local Meteorological Department and other relevant authorities had handled the last Tropical Cyclone Gonu well.

"We had concrete proof of the cyclone coming last time and we gave enough warning to residents and subsequently we also handled the disaster well."
He did not deny nor agree with reports of another cyclone.

"We will act as and when we know it is happening," he said, urging people to keep full faith in the local weather bureau.

Last year, the local authorities forewarned residents in the country well in advance of cyclone Gonu striking Oman on June 6. This action saved a lot of lives as people moved out of low-lying areas as well as places under threat from the storm.

"We handled the situation well at that time [Gonu] and any time in the future we are capable of handling any situation well," he added.

The possibility of a storm at the end of this month has become the talk of the town - so much so that some of the expatriate community schools have floated the idea of an early summer vacation.

"Some teachers as well as students were keen to know if the vacation would be advanced slightly," a official at an expatriate school said.