The cyclone Mekunu is said to make a huge landfall early this Saturday in Oman, near Salalah, which is Oman’s third largest city and also home to nearly 200,000 residents. The satellite images that have been provided by NASA shows that the cyclone was over the Yemeni Island od Socotra in the Arabian sea as of May 23, 2018. Weather analysts also predict that the cyclone will be ‘extremely severe’ this weekend as it crashes into the Arabian Peninsula.

After the cyclone had made its way into the Yemeni Island of Socotra, 17 people at the least have been reported to be missing, of which one Yemeni official has been reported dead. The cyclone is one of the most disastrous cyclones that the nation is about to witness this coming Saturday.

Big waves

The conditions on Friday had deteriorated in Salalah with the winds and the rains in the beautiful city of Oman started picking up. The waves got bigger and stronger as it smashed itself into the tourist beaches that were empty. Also, many holidaymakers have also fled the storm Thursday night before the Salalah International Airport was declared closed due to the terrible weather conditions. The storm near the Arabian Sea was picking up speeds of very gusty winds at about 160 – 170 kms per hour and at times also reaching up to 180 kms per hour, as told by the Indian Meteorological Department.

Also, one ship had sunk in Socotra while two others were run aground in the storm. There were torrents of rain pouring heaving through the streets and homes leaving the residents of the place running for shelter as they got soaking wet. The 17 reported missing due to the storm has been considered missing according to Gov. Ramzy Mahrous.

UNESCO has listed the island as a World Heritage Site. This island is more of an ecosystem that is home to many snails and reptiles including rare plants that cannot be easily found in most parts of the world. It is also known for its dragon-blood tree, which is a flower and fruit bearing tree that resembles an umbrella. It gets its name from the colour of the secretion that is secreted which is a dark red sap.

Powerful cyclones are extremely rare in The Sultanate of Oman. A cyclone is exactly the same as that of a hurricane and a typhoon, it is just that their names change depending upon the location. Hurricanes are formed generally on the east side of the international date line, while typhoons are found on the west side of the dateline and those that are found in the Indian Ocean and in Australia are known as cyclones.

The Mekunu cyclone that is headed to the beautiful city of Salalah located in The Sultanate of Oman, has the same strength as that of a Category 2 hurricane at landfall. This cyclone is the latest cyclone to be reported just days later after Cyclone Sagar had hit Somalia.