DUBAI/ABU DHABI, 8 June 2007 — A much-weakened tropical Cyclone Gonu headed for the southern coast of Iran yesterday after killing 25 people in Oman and leaving a trail of destruction there and in parts of the United Arab Emirates.
Gonu, which peaked as a maximum-force Category 5 hurricane on Tuesday and faded to a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday, was reduced to an ordinary tropical storm yesterday. The storm’s maximum sustained wind speed is now about 72 km per hour, the US military’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.
An Omani relief official said 25 people were confirmed killed by the storm, which turned the streets of the capital Muscat into rivers, flipping over cars, uprooting trees and severing electricity and telephone lines. At least 26 people are missing.
Three people were killed in southern Iran due to the storm, while those living within 300 meters of the coast in Hormozgan province had been evacuated, Iran state television said.
State media said roads and houses in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan had been damaged and many coastal areas were cut off by flooding. “All governmental offices are on alert and rescue teams have been dispatched to various parts of the province,” Mohammad Akbar Chakerzehi, governor of Nikshahr in Sistan-Baluchestan province told the ISNA news agency. “Connections between over 500 villages and Nikshahr city have been cut and many houses in villages are badly damaged.”
Mina Al-Fahal, the only terminal for Oman’s 650,000-barrels-per-day crude exports, remained closed for a third day and the main liquefied natural gas terminal at Sur, which was badly hit, was not operating either, a shipper said. The Sur terminal handles 10 million tons per year of LNG. But there were no reports so far of serious damage to Oman’s Mina Al-Fahal refinery or other oil facilities, port, shipping and oil company sources said. The Sohar refinery and port were back to normal yesterday, the company said.
The UAE government and local authorities in the country’s seven emirates remained on high alert. Hundreds of army personnel, police officers, civil defense and other emergency workers were deployed in areas that were hit by the cyclone. TV stations were advising the public not to go near the seas.
Fujairah port reopened yesterday. Capt. Musa Morad, director general of the port, said the port’s administration had informed all shipping agencies that the port was ready now to receive all types of ships.
