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The BBC news announced this morning that there have been storms in eastern Australia for the last three days with winds gusting up to 90 km/hour. At least eight people have been killed and 130,000 are without electricity.

What has this to do with Oman? There was never a mention of Cyclone Gonu and its associated devastation, either in Oman or Iran, on the main UK BBC news last week.

In fact, public comment abroad was largely reduced to the rise of the oil price to over $70 a barrel because production facilities had had to close down, and tankers were delayed leaving the Gulf of Oman. Jenna's link to The Oil Drum is perhaps worth reading in this regard.

49 people have been reported killed in the aftermath of Cyclone Gonu and 27 people are still missing, according to Oman News Agency. The Ministry of Information website cannot be reached at the time of writing. I have seen no published estimates of the cost of damage, but it is likely to be huge.

I still haven't seen any accounts of what has happened in Sur.

In Muscat, the coastal areas suffered most. Qurum, the Ministry area or Wazarat, Al Ghubrah, Azaiba and Seeb seem to have been badly hit with massive flooding, substantial damage and the loss of many cars and possessions. Road and seaboard infrastructure was also severely damaged around the coast from Muttrah to Old Muscat. 80% of the fishing hamlet of Yiti is reported destroyed.

As you can see from previously published photos, water levels were extremely high in places. The McDonalds at Qurum, which had stood at the edge of Wadi Aday, was almost completely submerged, as was much of Capital Commercial Centre (CCC).

Shopping malls in the vicinity of Sabco Centre suffered smashed windows as all sorts of movable objects were thrown against walls and glass. There have been reports of looting.

Madinat Al Sultan Qaboos, which stands on slightly higher and rising ground a kilometre or more behind the coast, seems to have largely escaped. Friends living there say that they experienced high winds and rain and power loss, which has now returned, but otherwise escaped the damage suffered elsewhere.

Of course, the coastal suburbs named have spread and sprawled across low-lying areas of the Batinah alluvial plain over the last 20 or so years, which is prone to flooding in heavy rain. Maybe the builders of MSQ were more mindful of the potential impact of natural disasters.

Lansab Dam was breached, releasing a great shock of water. It's said that a third of the dam was breached deliberately rather than having the whole dam destroyed and discharging even more flood water.

The big problem is water. Water supply pipes have been disrupted. "the pipeline that supplies gas to the Ghubrah power and desalination plant which produces 42 million gallons of water a day, [was washed away]. The plant is the main source of potable water for Muscat." Photos in yesterday's Oman Observer show streams of men and boys fetching water from distribution centres set up by the ROP and the armed forces. Some suppliers have tried to overcharge but the warning has gone out and people are being urged to report these to the authorities. Penalties for overcharging are likely to be stiff. National Mineral Water Company has also been distributing bottled water.

People with roof tanks have been relatively fortunate.

The road to Al Amerat through Wadi Aday was cut. A track is being graded adjacent to the road to try and reach communities at Al Amerat and beyond to Quriyat, which are said to have suffered very badly. The coast road that was being built between Quriyat and Sur is likely to have been washed away. A Muscat resident has remarked that the currently available road system is not going to be adequate to cope with the normal volume of traffic, even though the public holiday is officially over today.

Citizens are being urged to help with the recovery efforts. Several groups, including the Scouts and Guides have met the call.

The Khaleej Times reported that the Ministry of Education has cancelled all year-end exams in both Muscat Governorate and Sharqiyah until a date yet to be announced. That should at least relieve the school-run. TAISM and ABA have closed but British School of Muscat is soldiering on.

Muscat Securities Market remains shut as the Capital Business District is still without power.

A friend wrote: "Ghubrah was really badly hit with houses flooded, flying debris, cars upturned and smashed to pieces. A lady I know said it was frightening watching from the balcony the cars, water tankers, trucks... floating past and crashing against the cables of the building. She said everyone was terrified that the foundations would give.

The Chedi is a disaster area, the guests had all very reluctantly agreed to move shortly before the hit.I believe the manager took some after photos to show them it was not an unnecessary inconvenience."

'Royal Oman Police's Lt-Col Abdullah Al Harthy, spokesman for the National Committee for Disaster Control (NCDC), speaking to Oman Radio said, "We are still in the crisis stage. Our priority at the moment is to ensure that people don't die of thirst, lack of food or medical care. [ ] At the government level, we have stocks for the entire nation for six months... There will be no crisis of food. [ ] There is a lot that needs to be done... Everything will be fine within the next few days. We are nearly in the middle of it." Khaleej Times.

As it is, people are being reflective. The Khaleej Times quoted two people "It's a miracle that the cyclone weakened remarkably by the time it hit Muscat." ""If Gonu had struck us with its original speed of 260kms, think of the consequences."