The Cyclone Experience.

The cyclone GONU has just passed off Oman, and now things are limping back to normalcy. It was an experience of a lifetime , and I’ll be sharing that with you now.
The first time we heard about the approaching cyclone, we thought it was a rumour. But soon, all government channels were talking about it. For the first time ever, a cyclonic storm was about to hit the gulf peninsula. The highest state of emergency was declared, offices closed early on tuesday, 4 day holiday announced. We thought its going to be a nice long holiday coupled with some good weather. What a break from muscat’s hot hot hot days with soaring mercury. The temperatures were touching 44 degrees already, so a change was welcome…
But the sense of urgency in govt channels was palpable. The Police, military and royal guards were out on streets. Supermarkets saw huge queues, and bread, water and torches were selling like hotcakes. We stocked up too.
Not much happened on Tuesday. Wednesday morning the drizzle started. Winds picked up speed. Rain seemed to increase in intensity every half an hour. Soon we could see the wadis ( dry river beds) overflowing, water gushing through them at fast speed. At around 11 a.m., Navin and Siddharth went down to “check out” the rain. The winds were so furious, that they had to abort the mission. It was hard to control oneself, and was dangerous. Navin actually felt like they could have flown away!! Only later we found out the people and vehicles and other stuff actually flew away.
Soon there was water entering the city from all the mountains as well. A few landslides happened. The roads were submerged, and we could see a few 4WDs trying to negotiate the roads. Some succeded, some got stuck, some returned. Some, we were told, were swept away with the fast currents.
Electricity was disconnected at around 5 pm as our building transformer itself submerged under water. We spent time taking ‘najaaraa’ from the balcony, playing ringa ringa roses with ginni, and remembering the Bangalore weather.
The cyclone passed off at around 4 am. By Thursday morning, the rains stopped, the sky cleared, the sun shone as if nothing had happened. We decided to go take a look at the city, and saw some of the most heart-wrenching scenes of my life.
We saw all trees uprooted. Street lamps fallen, walls broken, cars overturned, smashed against walls or ‘parked’ in strange places by water. We saw roads broken as if someone hammered them, road near the beach completely washed away.. We saw a yellow sea. We saw foot high mud on parked cars and shops.. We came back home realizing how lucky we were to be safe..
Later, about 60 casualties were reported. Water gushed inside many a peoples home, leaving plenty homeless. The water supply is badly affected as the local de-salination plant is hugely hit. We can’t go to our closest store, because road towards that side is broken. The devastation is mind-boggling. One can only be thankful, that Gonu had considerably weakened from category 5 hurricane to just a category 2/3 ish , and than too, Muscat was hit only by a part of it. If the full force cyclone had arrived here fully, the city would have resembled a trash can!!
The amazing part is the authorities response. As soon as the cyclone passed, the police and military started rescue and corrective work on war footing. The uprooted tress we saw on Thursday morning were whisked away by the afternoon!! Huge tankers were deployed to suck the water from roads and offload it in the wadis. The traffic was promptly diverted away from the broken roads, and detours identified.
It will take long to restore the city to its original beauty and glory, The after effects of Gonu would stay for atleast a year. What strikes as outstanding is the promptness and agility with which the government agencies have sprung to action!! And we have a memory we’ll remember for ever.