Muscat: Oman’s wettest weather spell in modern times claimed four more lives on Tuesday as authorities scrambled to assure rain-affected communities that essential commodities are getting through despite supply disruptions caused by flooding.

Two brothers, aged 17 and 19, were reported drowned in floodwaters in Dhank district in the Dhahirah region, one of the worst affected by the current rainy spell. The latest deaths take the total number of fatalities linked to the adverse weather conditions in Oman to eight.

Also on Tuesday, two children, both aged three, drowned in a pool at a farm in Saham district along the country’s northern Batinah coast. It was not clear if the drownings were rain-related, as most farms along the fertile Batinah coastal plain have open water tanks that double as private swimming pools.

In a statement to Oman News Agency, the Royal Oman Police (ROP) said the infants were brought dead to Saham’s main hospital. The distraught parents found them in the 2.5-metre-deep pool after they momentarily went missing. The tragedy prompted authorities to reiterate warnings to parents not to leave their young children unsupervised around water bodies.

In the capital city, Muscat, an emergency services team was called in to evacuate around 30 schoolchildren trapped in a school bus that got stuck in a flooded street in Al Khuwair district early on Tuesday. Some streets still remained impassable after a torrential downpour lashed the city the previous night. Municipal workers and emergency crews were in action during the morning, helping clear stranded vehicles and other debris that had clogged some roads.

Meanwhile, disaster management authorities dispatched food and other relief supplies to the Dhahirah region, which has borne the brunt of the current weather spell. Overflowing wadis and inundation have forced the evacuation of scores of people to temporary shelters operated by the Relief and Shelter Operations section of the National Centre for Emergency Management. Six schools have been converted into makeshift shelters to house evacuees.

The Oman Charitable Organisation, the official charity agency of the government, and the Public Authority for Stores and Food Reserves have pitched in with supplies of foodstuff. The Basic Services arm of the National Emergency Management apparatus has also been at work restoring electricity and water supplies to areas affected by flooding.

Earlier in the day, a high-level team representing the National Emergency Management apparatus visited Dhahirah governorate to assess for themselves the relief work in progress in this rain-ravaged region of the country. The team comprised Major General Hamad Bin Sulaiman Al Hatmi, Assistant Inspector-General of Police and Customs for Operations, Major General Abdullah Bin Ali Al Harthy, Chairman of the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA), and Dr Yahya Bin Badr Al Ma’awali, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Social Development. The team conferred with Shaikh Saif Bin Hamyar Al Shihi, Governor of Dhahirah, and other officials of the governorate.

With concerns mounting over the availability of foodstuff and essential commodities in the wake of the bad weather, a top official of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry sought to reassure the general public that authorities were taking measures to ensure adequacy of supplies.

Khamis Bin Abdullah Al Farsi, Director General of Commerce and Industry, said the rain-affected regions of the country continue to be well-supplied with essentials such as foodstuff, motor fuels and LPG. The ministry, in collaboration with the Public Authority for Consumer Protection, was also monitoring price trends to deter any tendency by retailers to take advantage of the weather situation. Additional quantities of foodstuff were being stockpiled in areas most affected by the rains for contingency situations, he added.

The Met Office, meanwhile, has forecast another day of isolated thundershowers and windy conditions across much of the northern half of Oman. More wet weather is predicted in the governorates of Musandam, Buraimi, Dhahirah, north and south Batinah, Dakhiliya, north and south Sharqiya and Muscat.