Threatening its way towards Oman for nearly a week, tropical cyclone Gonu had luckily leveled to a category-1 storm when it finally hit the coast of Muscat on June 7. Gonu’s weakened state, however, was not enough to hold back the ravaged city’s inevitable economic costs of $3.9 billion, according to early government estimates. Gonu, which means “bag made of palm leaves” in the Dhivehi language of the Maldives, shut Oman down for days after it battered the sultanate with torrential rains, wind gusts of 83 km/h (51 mph) and waves 10 to 12 meters high. The Ministry of National Economy sent an army of surveyors to assess the resulting damage in the badly hit regions of Muscat and Sharqiyah. In addition to the 60 lives it claimed, Gonu caused the displacement of 20,000 people and the destruction of 70,000 homes. The insurance industry will assume the massive rebuilding costs,
