Dubai: Arabian Sea cyclones came under the region’s radar in 2007 when the category 5 super cyclone Gonu lashed northern Oman to become the most severe cyclone on record to batter the Arabian Peninsula.
Reliable scientific records, however, do not go too far back in history. Colorado State University meteorologist Philip Klotzbach told the Washington Post that reliable data only goes as far back as 1990.
But where scientific records are lacking, diplomatic cables may step in in providing a glimpse into weather patterns through history.
The current weather phenomenon has been referred to as an anomaly in the Arabian Sea, but records collected by British imperial agents in the region show that severe storms were in fact not so uncommon.
Major Charles Yate, the British political agent in Muscat in 1890 recounted in detail the effects of a “severe cyclone” that hit northern Oman on June 4 that year.
The cyclone, according to British cables made available by the Qatar Digital Library, dumped 11 inches of rain in a period of 24 hours. Preliminary reports suggested a death toll of 727, a significant figure for the time considering the relatively small population of the area. Yate however speculated that the real figure may be higher since a number of areas were not included in the count.
A total of 109,500 date trees, considered a vital source of sustenance as well as trade, were washed away in the accompanying floods, which had also undermined the foundations of most of Muscat’s houses. The economic loss from the uprooting of palm trees alone amounted to more than $1.5 million, approximately $40 million in today’s dollar value.
To emphasise the magnitude of the damage, Yates said: “The total loss, however, shown in the statement barely represents the actual loss to the country, to estimate which the price of the average products of these trees, namely, $871,875 [approximately $22 million today], for the next 15 years, the time that will probably be required to substitute new trees in the place of those that have been already lost…”.
The agent added that the only historical record of a similar storm he had come across recounted a major storm in northern Oman on May 2, 865AD, “when the whole of the country between Gobreh [Gubra] and Sohar was laid waste and several people were carried away by the overflooded condition of the valleys into the sea”. The agent cited “an old manuscript” as the source, but did not specify.
