Oman: Gonu arrives

The rain started just before midnight and increased in intensity around 2am. At dawn heavy chunks of water were already filling the street and the wind blew tree branches in every direction. Most windows throughout the world are designed to keep weather out, but the windows in our house merely serve to divert rain down the inside walls. During the occasional rainstorm in Muscat a few towels under each window will usually soak up a modest trickle, but piles of soggy towels did little to stop the water from turning most of the rooms into paddling pools or stairway waterfalls. I was getting Carpel Tunnel Syndrome from squeezing the mop and my toes were pruney from being in water so long.

Around 5pm the electricity was cut leaving us to mop by the light of the emergency lights. The storm was now pounding the opposite side of the house with the leakiest windows and we had to deal with a waterfall down two flights of stairs by torchlight. Super. An hour or so later, the batteries in the emergency lights gave up and we were left in almost total darkness.

The storm began to ease at 10pm, particularly the rain which was our main concern. By midnight the rain was light enough not to force its way into the house and I could go to bed with without worrying about flooding. It had been raining for almost 24 hours.