TEHRAN, 9 June 2007 — Cyclone Gonu’s power was waning yesterday, after it killed at least 35 people and wrought damage in energy producers Oman and Iran in the previous days.
An Iranian official said the hurricane had weakened and its “impact will be completely gone,” the ISNA news agency reported.
The storm had raised fears of a disruption to exports from the Middle East, which pumps over a quarter of the world’s oil, pushing prices to around $71 a barrel on Thursday.
Mina Al-Fahal, Oman’s only oil terminal for its 650,000 barrel per day output, resumed operations after a three-day closure, a shipper said yesterday. But the main gas export terminal at Sur was yet to open and state media said there was still disruption to fuel distribution.
Omani television showed scenes of devastation, with cars piled on top of each other, and people lining up near tankers distributing drinking water.
The Omani news agency ONA said at least 32 people had been killed and 30 were missing. Three people were reported killed in Iran on Thursday and nine were missing.
Iranian state TV’s website said two government workers taking emergency supplies to a flooded area were killed Wednesday when a river overflowed and flipped their truck in Jask. A third Iranian died in Bandar Abbas from a car accident blamed on low visibility from the bad weather, state TV said.
Floods spawned by the remnants of Gonu stranded dozens of tiny villages in the deserts of southern Iran yesterday, cutting off roads, power and communications and sending some residents into trees for safety.
Water encircled more than 100 villages deep in Kerman Province, where many residents subsist on livestock and small farm plots in villages consisting of a handful of families. Lt. Siamak Miladi, a police commander in the town of Kalaganj, said rescue workers were expected to reach many villages by helicopter today.
“Power and telephone lines were affected by the flood there, so we do not have any access to them for the time being,” he said in a telephone interview.
People within 300 meters of the coast in Hormuzgan province had been evacuated, and at least 300 villages were completely cut off, Iran state television said.
The Omani official news agency said winds from Gonu, downgraded to a Category One hurricane since Wednesday, were moderate and sea waves were about two meters (six feet) high.
The hurricane damaged main roads and bridges connecting the eastern provinces with the capital Muscat and caused floods and landslides, officials said.
In Muscat’s center, streets were turned into turbulent rivers, trees uprooted and power lines cut.
Rescue teams, using helicopters, searched for missing people and evacuated residents from valleys near the city.
One witness said he had to take his children to the roof of his three-story house in Muscat to flee the rising water.
