The 1977 Oman cyclone was the deadliest

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

on record to strike

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. The storm formed off the west coast of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

, and curved westward to reach peak winds of . The storm struck

Masirah Island Masirah Island (), also referred to as Mazeira Island, is an island off the east coast of mainland Oman in the Arabian Sea, and the largest island of the country. Administratively, it forms one of the five Provinces of Oman, provinces (''Wilaya ...

and later southern

on June 13, before dissipating the next day over

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. Producing wind gusts to , the storm was the strongest cyclone on record to hit the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

until

Cyclone Gonu Super Cyclonic Storm Gonu was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone that became the strongest cyclone on record in the Arabian Sea. The second named tropical cyclone of the 2007 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, Gonu developed from a pe ...

hit in 2007. About 95% of Marisah Island was damaged by the strong winds, including much of the military base. The cyclone dropped of rainfall over a 24-hour period on Marisah, which was the highest daily total in the country as of 2003. Overall, the storm killed at least 105 people and left 50,000 homeless.

Meteorological history

On June 6, a

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

depression formed in the

about south-southwest of

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

, India. It initially paralleled the Indian coastline, becoming a tropical storm on June 9 with a minimum

barometric pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as air pressure or barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1,013.2 ...

of . That day, the

Joint Typhoon Warning Center The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The JTWC is responsible for the issuing of tropical cyclone warnings in the North-West Pacific Ocean, South P ...

(JTWC) began tracking the system. The storm moved northward, followed by a northwest turn on June 10. It curved toward the west, and the JTWC reported the cyclone as reaching peak 1–minute sustained winds of on June 11. In addition, the

India Meteorological Department India Meteorological Department (IMD) is an Indian agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India. It is the principal agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology. IMD is headquar ...

estimated the system became a severe cyclonic storm, which has sustained winds of at least . On June 12, the storm attained a minimum pressure of while continuing westward. On June 13, the

eye An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system. In higher organisms, the ey ...

of the cyclone passed over

for a 40-minute period, producing peak sustained winds of and a minimum pressure of . The JTWC issued the final advisory at 0800

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

that day. The Oman Department of Meteorology reported the storm as being much stronger than the JTWC, with sustained winds of and gusts to . The cyclone was the strongest on record to make landfall on the

, until

surpassed it in 2007. Shortly after striking Masirah, the storm moved ashore mainland

, causing rapid weakening to tropical depression status. The system dissipated on June 14 after crossing into southeastern

Impact and aftermath

Along the southwest coast of India, the storm produced high swells of up to in conjunction with the monsoon. The waves affected several drilling rigs operated by the

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is an Indian central public sector undertaking which is the largest government-owned oil and gas explorer and producer in the country. It accounts for around 70 percent of India's domestic pro ...

, forcing work to shut down. The tanker Texaco Plymouth experienced significant structural damage from the storm, losing two lifeboats. The freighter Buxom Island in the central Arabian Sea experienced winds before sinking, which took the lives of 23 of its crew. The military base in Masirah was first warned about the cyclone on June 11. The next day, officials there raised a Category 3 warning, which was soon upgraded to Category 2. Aircraft were stored in hangars, and workers inspected the roofs of buildings before riding out the storm in a shelter. Hurricane-force winds struck during the morning hours of June 13, with sustained winds peaking at and gusts to . After a lull during the eye's passage, winds then increased out of the southwest towards . The strong winds caused buildings to collapse and roof beams to be blown through the air. Every building at the base sustained damage, and virtually all homes in the nearby village were leveled. The

radio relay Radio stations that cannot communicate directly due to distance, terrain or other difficulties sometimes use an intermediate radio relay station to relay the signals. A radio relay receives weak signals and retransmits them, often in a different di ...

station on the island was also damaged. Overall, the storm wrecked about 95% of the buildings in Masirah, leaving 2,000 people homeless there. Rain totals were significant, with a total of falling northeast of Salalah. A station on Masirah Island reported in 24 hours, more than six times the average annual precipitation there. The total was the highest daily rainfall in the period from 1977 to 2003 nationwide. Floods washed away thousands of animals as well as lime and palm-tree plantations, downing thousands of trees across the region. The rains flooded the main highway from

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

Salalah Salalah () is the capital and largest city of the southern Omani Governorates of Oman, governorate of Dhofar Governorate, Dhofar. It has a population close to 331,949. Salalah is the third-largest city in the Sultanate of Oman, and the largest ...

, and also accumulated in the typically dry

Dhofar The Dhofar Governorate () is the largest of the 11 governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah Governorate and the southern border with Saudi Arabia's Easter ...

region. There, most drains were unable to withstand the unusual flooding. The cyclone was considered the worst disaster in Oman during the 20th century, and remains the deadliest cyclone as of 2010. Overall, the cyclone caused 105 deaths, and over 5,000 injuries, and left about 20,000 people homeless. The death toll is disputed, as another report indicated 110 deaths in Oman. After the storm, neighboring

sent assistance to Oman, as did other nations in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

. The cyclone struck before the nation created a coordinated disaster network in 1988; as a result, the relief work was spread among various agencies.

References

{{Reflist 1977 Oman cyclone Oman Cyclone, 1977 Severe cyclonic storms

Meteorological history

Impact and aftermath

See also

References