Dubai: The death toll from a cyclone that battered southern Oman and the Yemeni island of Socotra has reached 11, while eight sailors are still missing, authorities said.
Cyclone Mekunu hit Oman’s Dhofar and Al Wusta provinces on Friday after intensifying from a category one to a category two cyclone, with winds of up to 170 kilometres per hour after it made landfall on Socotra on Thursday.
Oman’s civil defence service on Saturday reported two deaths, adding to an earlier toll of a man and a 12-year-old girl.
“The third is an Asian man who was missing but his body was found late Saturday in Dhofar” province, spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Saeed Al Badaei said at a press conference late Saturday.
“The fourth is a young Omani man who was swept away in his car by flooding,” he added.
Socotra’s governor Ramzy Mahrous said on Sunday that the death toll on the island remained seven - five Yemenis and two Indian sailors. A further eight Indian sailors remain missing.
The southeastern part of the island remains cut off, but authorities are working to access the area and assess damage, Mahrous told AFP.
Around 1,000 families on Socotra, with a population of around 60,000, were evacuated after their homes were damaged.
The main road linking the airport to Hadibo, the island’s main city, has been reopened, Mahrous said.
Late Saturday it struck Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter, one of the world’s most arid deserts, with ongoing heavy rains and strong winds.
The Saudi meteorological authority said on Twitter Sunday that winds blew at 60 kilometres per hour, kicking up blinding dust storms.
Rains are expected to continue for two more days, drenching the area with more than 100 millimetres of rain, almost six times its annual average, Amman-based weather experts WASM said on Twitter.
On its part, the UAE was the first country to provide humanitarian assistance to cyclone-hit Socotra where at least 17 people were reported killed.
A plane loaded with 40 tonnes of humanitarian and food assistance for the local residents landed on the island hit by the Cyclone Mekunu.
UAE rescue crews also helped with re-opening some of the roads that had been blocked by rocks and debris that fell under the onslaught of the cyclone last week.
In 2012, the UAE was also among the first countries to provide assistance after the island was hit by a Tsunami.
Saudi planes also flew into the island loaded with tonnes of urgent relief for the islanders.
Officials said that the first plane to land carried aliments to be distributed among the severely-hit residents.
Pictures circulated on social media showed Saudi soldiers carrying bags as they made their way through rocks blocking access to villages.
On Thursday, Yemen declared a state of emergency for the island.
In neighbouring Oman, Mekunu hit Salalah, the Sultanate’s second city, one day after it lashed the Yemeni island of Socotra.
On Sunday, Oman’s meteorology directorate announced that “the direct effects of the tropical system are over.”
Cyclone Mekunu has now been downgraded to the category of “deep depression”.
The powerful cyclone reportedly killed at least four people, among them a 12-year-old girl.
One man died when his was swept away.
Thousands of people living near coastal areas had to hide in shelters to escape winds of up to 170 kilometres an hour and torrential rains.
Although the storm has been downgraded, officials warned that heavy rain and high wind were continuing.
The Directorate General forecasted cloudy skies over Dhofar and Al Wusta on Sunday with rain-associated thunderstorm.
However, it warned that the sea would be rough along the coasts of Dhofar and Al Wusta governorates with waves reaching up to six metres.
Sembcorp Salalah Water and Power Co, which operates an electricity generation and seawater desalination plant in Oman, said its water production plant had been temporarily shut down because of rough seas as a result of a tropical storm.
Cyclone Mekunu hit southern Yemen and the coast of neighbouring Oman over the weekend, leaving several dead and others missing.
The company said its preliminary assessment is that the impact is not expected to be material, however the “total impact of the cyclone on plant operations cannot yet be precisely assessed at this point in time.”
Other Muscat-listed companies such as Dhofar Poultry Co have also announced some losses from the cyclone.
Oman has advised all private sector establishments in Dhofar region to shut down for three days in the aftermath of the storm.
The labour ministry declared a three-day holiday for companies and establishments in the private sector, state news agency ONA reported on Sunday.
The central bank issued a circular announcing a three-day holiday starting on Sunday for money exchange houses, banks, finance and leasing companies in Dhofar.
-With inputs from Habib Toumi, Bahrain Bureau Chief
