Parts of Yemen, including cyclone-ravaged Mukalla, are controlled by al-Qaeda, which is in no way prepared to deal with natural disasters – although the terrorist organization did attempt to make a show of it, according to reporter Iona Craig.
Advertisement
“Tropical cyclones are an extreme rarity near the Arabian Peninsula”, Mr Holthaus said.
Mohammed said the storm damaged a few homes and uprooted trees in Hadibo, the capital of Socotra.
Chapala has been tracking toward Yemen since late last week.
In both countries, WMO expects “the most serious impacts to be from the very, very, very heavy anticipated rainfall”, Nullis said, citing reports that the area might get the equivalent of more than a year’s worth of rainfall in a matter of days.
The Yemen Post newspaper described the city as being “under water”, saying on Twitter that Chapala “drowns city with 40 inches of water”.
The high-resolution HWRF model suggests Chapala is going to produce up to 30 inches of rain near Al Mukalla.
In the limited historical record, however, strong cyclones in the Arabian Sea are more rare than other basins, due to the proximity of dry air from the Arabian Desert, the aforementioned increased wind shear during the wet phase of the Asian monsoon, and the basin’s overall small size.
This weakening trend will continue the next 24 to 48 as Chapala moved into the Gulf of Aden and eventually makes landfall in central Yemen on Tuesday before eventually dissipating over the interior of the country. And if Chapala maintains hurricane strength at landfall, it would only be the third hurricane on record to make landfall on the entire Arabian Peninsula.
However, Chapala may still be a formidable cyclone of at least Category 1 intensity at landfall, a very unusual, if not unprecedented occurrence for Yemen or southwest Oman.
Weather Underground meteorologist Quincy Vagell wrote on Sunday night that “potentially catastrophic flooding is feared [in Yemen] as heavy rain will hit an area that is typically arid”.
In al-Mahra, Yemen’s easternmost province, security officials told the Associated Press dark clouds are forming amid unusually strong winds, though no damage has been reported yet.
Most of the storms that brew in the Indian Ocean end up in the Bay of Bengal, on the eastern side of the Indian subcontinent.
Advertisement
Cyclone Chapala has already generated sustained winds of 95 knots (175 km/h), according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.
