Kalba: It was calm and still when we crossed over from Kalba to Oman yesterday. We drove for over 75 kilometres when clouds started to appear in the sky, slowly greying as we headed south in the direction of Muscat.

We were hit quite suddenly by the first downpour. The rain came down fast and hard, with visibility under 3 metres in front of the car. The heavy rain passed quickly, remaining steady but with good visibility.

We took a few detours off the main highway, down to the small towns that line the coast. There we came across fishermen hauling their boats away from the shoreline as well as local residents preparing for the onslaught and also those evacuating further inland.

We stopped in Al Sawadi, about 100 kms from Muscat, to file our photos from the morning. We decided against going to Muscat. Rain was pouring down around us and the winds were pretty high.

The main part of the storm hit us at about 3 o'clock. We drove along the coast road, where debris was spread out along the road and large pools of water had formed on either side. Our journey came to an abrupt halt when we drove up to a large wadi lying in our path, about 20 metres wide and moving quickly.

A brave group of young Omanis in a white car elected to attempt the crossing, surprisingly managing the feat. Having already had a puncture during our trip we decided not to press our luck and took an old farm road back to the main highway.

On the main road the weather took a turn for the worse. One wadi had crossed the highway, so cars were turning around and driving into opposing traffic to avoid the flooding. Rather than turn back we opted to make a go for it this time, water rushing around the wheels making for a few tense moments.
Just as we passed through to the other side we passed by an old gentleman crossing through the wadi on foot, grinning from one ear to the next and feebly attempting to stay dry with his bright red umbrella over his head. We both missed the photo, but had a good chuckle about the sight of him.

For the next 40 kilometres as we drove, water flooded both sides of the road and we passed about a half a dozen raging wadis, luckily passing under the bridges designed for such an event.

By the time we reached Sohar the rain slacked off and then ceased all together and we had clear skies as we made out way back to the UAE.

By Tracy Brand and Megan Hirons, Staff Photographers

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