Seven More Killed in Oman Following Tropical Storm Shaheen

Seven more people were killed in Oman as heavy winds and rain swept through the country after tropical storm Shaheen made landfall, the national emergency committee said on Monday on its official Twitter account.

Four people had been killed on Sunday including a child.

Latest data showed that the storm had subsided, the civil aviation authority said on Monday, warning that scattered rainfall was still expected.

It urged citizens to be careful crossing valleys and avoid low lying areas.

When its eye crossed land, Shaheen 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 meters (32 feet).

Up to 500 cm (20 inches) of rain was expected in some areas, raising the risk of flash floods.

Cyclones steadily lose their power over land and Shaheen was downgraded to a tropical storm after it cleared the ocean, the meteorology service said on Twitter.

In Iran, state television said rescuers found the body of one of five fishermen who went missing off Pasabandar, a fishing village near Iran’s border with Pakistan. Earlier on Sunday, Iranian deputy parliament speaker Ali Nikzad said he feared as many as six fishermen had been killed because of the cyclone.

Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province also saw 122 people go to the hospital Sunday after a dust storm spun up by the cyclone caused them to suffer from eye, heart and lung problems, said Abbasali Arjmandi, the governor of the city of Zabol. Eighteen needed to be hospitalized for further care, he said.

India’s Meteorological Department, the top forecasters for cyclones that sweep across the Indian Ocean, said winds from Shaheen now gust up to 90 kph (55 mph) and would continue to weaken. It predicted the storm would weaken into a tropical depression in the coming hours. Shaheen made landfall with winds reaching up to 150 kph (93 mph).