Cyclone Hammers Oman; Veers Toward Iran

[mod mom]

Cyclone Hammers Oman; Veers Toward Iran

SAEED AL-NAHDY | June 6, 2007 04:25 PM EST |


MUSCAT, Oman — Cyclone Gonu battered Oman's coast Wednesday with fierce winds and torrential rains, forcing thousands from their homes and shutting down oil installations before heading toward the world's most important crude oil tanker route.

The storm _ a rarity in the Middle East _ was expected to make landfall on the southeastern Iranian coast late Thursday, according to the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center. But it was likely to spare Iran's offshore oil installations that lie more than 120 miles to the west.

In Muscat, the cyclone unleashed sheets of rainfall and howling winds rarely seen in the quiet seaside capital. Police and emergency vehicles could hardly move through the flooded streets, and authorities used text messages to warn people away from low-lying areas.

The storm caused little damage to Oman's relatively small oil fields. But raging seas prevented tankers from sailing from Omani ports, effectively shutting down the country's oil exports, said Nasser bin Khamis al-Jashimi of the Ministry of Oil and Gas.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070606/cyclone-gonu/