UAE Issues Cyclone Alert
UAE Issues Cyclone Alert
The UAE has set up an emergency taskforce in case Cyclone Gonu - currently raging at up to 315 kilometres per hour - heads this way.
Some 7,000 Omani coastal residents have fled their homes as Cyclone Gonu approaches.
Heading northwest through the Indian Ocean toward Oman's east coast, Gonu is producing winds of 260 kilometres per hour and gusts of 315 kilometres per hour.
Thunderstorms, heavy rain and high winds are expected across the UAE as a result of the cyclone.
In Kalba, the corniche road to Fujairah was closed after being submerged by sea water.
General Malek Bin Sulaiman Al-Muamri, head of Oman's civil defense, said nearly 7,000 people from Masirah - a lowland island off the east coast of Oman - were evacuated on Monday.
What's the UAE doing?
- H.H. Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, has directed UAE authorities to take "utmost care and caution" should Gonu reach the Emirates, particularly the east coast.
- The UAE is also readying itself to send aid to its neighbour, Oman, should it be needed.
- General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, minister of interior, is setting up field hospitals in coordination with the health ministry.
- And he is setting up a committee of top health, civil defence and rescue and emergency officials to closely monitor the cyclone's movements.
Nasa Earth Observatory on Gonu:
- "Though rare, cyclones like Gonu are not unheard of in the northern Indian Ocean basin.
- "Those that take shape over the Arabian Sea, west of the Indian peninsula, tend to be small and fizzle out before coming ashore. Cyclone Gonu is a rare exception."
- The storm had reached a "dangerous Category Four status"; the last storm of this size to form over the Arabian Sea, Cyclone 01A, in 2001, never came ashore.
- "The satellite image confirms that Gonu was a super-powerful cyclone. The storm has the hallmark tightly wound arms that spiral around a well-defined, circular eye. The eye is surrounded by a clear wall of towering clouds that cast shadows on the surrounding clouds."
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