Director General of Met statement after heavy rains hit Salalah

Muscat: The Salalah city and its neighboring mountains areas witnessed heavy rainfall of varying intensity on Saturday, in addition to the extending rainy cloud towards the state of Taqah and the Samhan mountain range.

Abdullah Alkhadouri , Director General of Oman Meteorology said: “We apologize to everyone for not having prior warning of the rain that fell yesterday in parts of Dhofar. In general, there were no indications of rain this heavy and strong, especially with the end of the weather condition upon us on Thursday. Some indicators, yes, hinted at rain falling at less than 5 mm…but not this quantity and intensity, which reached 73 mm in the city of Salalah.

The Director of Meteorology pointed out that “We are very understanding of all the comments that come to us from citizens. We will take the necessary measures to ensure the improvement and development of the work in the future.”

In a related context, Al Khaduri said that in light of the rapid changes, it is necessary to modernize and develop the meteorological system to keep pace with these changes, stressing that with the opening and repair of the five radars, the modernization of the satellite system, and the modernization of the numerical modeling system, we will reach greater development of monitoring and greater effectiveness of the work of Omani meteorology.

He added that the Salalah radar is currently out of service and has a technical malfunction, in addition to a financial contractual problem with the company operating the radar. He stressed that this problem will be solved by contracting with another company and work is underway to begin procedures to repair the radar so that it can return to work again.