Death toll from Cyclone Mekunu in Oman and Yemen rises to at least 13 – Mekunu is strongest-ever cyclone recorded to hit southern Oman
By Jon Gambrell
28 May 2018
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – The death toll from Cyclone Mekunu that hit Oman and Yemen over the weekend rose to at least 13 on Monday, authorities said, as relief workers and aid arrived to hard-hit areas in the two Arabian Peninsula countries.
Flooding and damage remains considerable after the cyclone, the strongest-ever recorded to hit southern Oman and the sultanate’s third-largest city of Salalah. […]
Those deaths come after Oman’s National Committee for Civil Defense earlier announced that four people had been killed. The dead include a 12-year-old girl killed when the storm’s strong winds flung open a metal door that struck her in the head. […]
Before hitting Oman, Mekunu struck Yemen’s Socotra in the Arabian Sea, causing massive damage to the island that UNESCO has recognized as a world natural heritage site. The storm killed at least seven people there while eight remain missing, according to the United Nations. […]
Cyclone Mekunu packed maximum sustained winds of 170-180 kilometers (105-111 miles) per hour with gusts of up to 200 kph (124 mph). Omani forecasters said Salalah and the surrounding area would get at least 200 millimeters (7.87 inches) of rain, over twice the city’s annual downfall. It actually received 278.2 mm, nearly three times its annual rainfall. [more]
