Cyclone Shaheen hits Oman with ferocious winds, killing three

  

Tropical Cyclone Shaheen killed at least three people as it slammed into Oman on Sunday with ferocious winds and heavy rain, flooding streets, prompting evacuations from coastal areas and delaying flights to and from the capital, Muscat.

As the cyclone approached, a child who had been swept away by water was found dead, the state news agency said, and another person was missing. Two Asian workers were killed when a hill collapsed on their housing area in an industrial zone, the state news agency reported.

When its eye crossed land, the cyclone was carrying winds of between 120 and 150 km per hour (75-93 mph), Omani authorities said. It was throwing up waves of up to 10 metres (32 feet).

Video footage from Omani broadcasters showed vehicles submerged as people tried to make their way through muddy brown floodwater.

Part of the eyewall of the storm, where the most severe weather occurs, had entered Al Batinah South governorate, the state news agency said. The eye also entered between the states of Musanah and Suwaiq.

Massive rainfall of as much as 500 cm (20 inches) was expected in some areas, potentially causing flash floods.

Cyclones steadily lose their power once they stop travelling over ocean waters and Shaheen was downg Cyclone Shaheen hits Oman with ferocious winds, killing threeraded to a tropical storm after it had hit land, the local meteorology service said in a tweet.

Source Reuters