Cyclone Mekunu to make 'extremely severe' landfall in Oman

New Delhi : Cyclone Mekunu will be 'extremely severe' when it makes a landfall in Oman this weekend, said meteorologists.

The cyclone took away 17 people from the Yemeni island of Socotra; authorities have pronounced them as dead.

As per predictions, the cyclone is likely to make a landfall early Saturday near Salalah, Oman’s third-largest city and home to some 200,000 people near the sultanate’s border with war-ravaged Yemen.

Conditions have started to change in Salalah from Friday as winds have started to gain speed. Strong waves smashed into empty tourist beaches. Many holidaymakers fled the storm Thursday night before Salalah International Airport closed.

India’s Meteorological Department said the storm in the Arabian Sea was packing maximum sustained winds of 160-170 kilometers (99-106 miles) per hour, with gusts of up to 180 kph (112 mph).

Evacuation process has also been initiated in the area to ensure minimum or no loss of life.