Oman hospital shut, patients evacuated, after flooding

Al Nahda, one of the three tertiary care hospitals run by the Ministry of Health, was shut after Wednesday's torrential rain flooded the facility in the Hamriya area. "Most of the medicine was destroyed in flooding," a staff at the hospital said. Even during the 2007 tropical cyclone Gonu, the area was unaffected. Ironically, Qurum, which suffered extensive damage during Gonu was spared. The other areas also were relatively free from flooding. Junkyard The parking lot of Al Nahda Hospital resembled a junkyard as cars were stacked on each other after they were washed away in the floodwaters. The Royal Oman Police had to bring in a helicopter to move a patient, who was operated on Wednesday morning, to the Royal Hospital. Fifty-six in-patients of Al Nahda Hospital were evacuated to safety. The evacuees from the flood-hit hospital's Surgical Ward were transferred to Khoula Hospital, while those from the General Ward were moved to the Royal Hospital. With the forecast of light to moderate rain in Muscat, most residents called off their outdoor plans. However, till late afternoon it was bright and sunny.