Gonu news: recovery, flooding, strandings, 30= deaths reported so far

[uppityperson]

http://www.pr-inside.com/bc-me-gen-cyclone-gonu-2nd-ld-writethru-r148074.htm

TEHRAN, IRAN (AP) - Floods spawned by the remnants of Cyclone Gonu stranded dozens of tiny villages in the deserts of southern Iran on Friday, 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. Lieutenant Siamak Miladi, a police commander in the town of Kalaganj, said rescue workers were expected to reach many villages by helicopter Saturday.

«Power and telephone lines were affected by the flood there, so we do not have any access to them for the time being,» he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. Flooding also swamped dozens of villages in neighboring Sistan and Baluchistan province, where the state news agency said some inhabitants had climbed up onto treetops. The floodwaters drove out the residents of Shahrestan village, near the port city of Chabahar, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

«Some of them are living in trees,» villager Slamcq Hood told IRNA. «Since the beginning of the storm on Wednesday we have not received any relief assistance. The report quoted Ebrahim Hood, another local in the village, as saying that, «Children, old people and women will lose their life if the assistance does not arrive. Iran's meteorological office said the storm had become a high-pressure system creating rainshowers and wind in southeastern Iran.

State television said the flooding had damaged roads, farms and buildings in that part of the country and relief supplies were being shipped to some remote villages by helicopters. Video footage showed people taking their belongings to higher ground, and said hundreds were living in tents in the port town of Konarak. It also said regular flights to the town's airport had restarted. In Bandar Abbas, Iran's main non-oil port, some people were living in school auditoriums, where they moved during the storm, but life otherwise was normal, the report said... (more)

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL0862820120070608?pageNumber=1

DUBAI (Reuters) - Cyclone Gonu's power was waning on Friday, 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.

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 on Friday. 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.

The Omani official news agency said winds from Gonu, downgraded to a Category One hurricane since Wednesday, were moderate and sea waves were about 2 meters (6 ft) high...(more)

And in Iran, news just starting to get out.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/YSAR-73YJMY?OpenDocument

The cyclone Gonu, the strongest tropical storm ever recorded in the Persian Gulf region since 1945, started lashing the islands and coastal cities in Hormozgan and Sistan-Baluchistan Provinces in southeast of Iran as of Wednesday afternoon, 6 June 2007. Early Wednesday evening strong winds snapped tree branches, thunder storm lashed, and torrential rain poured over Iran's farthest southeastern coastal cities including Chabahar, Jask, Konarak and Bandar Abbas. According to storm experts in the region, they have never witnessed such a strong storm in Chabahar and Konarak port cities for the past 30 years. The violent winds, with varying speeds from 60 to 200 kilometers per hour, destroyed things on the way, breaking tall trees, cutting off electricity poles and causing fires in some city locations. Also the level of sea water kept rising as the storm got momentum.

The strong winds and floods are causing damages to cities and villages in Hormozgan, Sistan-Baluchistan and Kerman Provinces. Houses, roads and electricity networks are destroyed by the winds and floods. However, details of casualties and damages are not available yet as the assessment has not begun because the areas are still affected by the cyclone.

The local authorities and the Iranian Red Crescent Society gave early warning to the residents living in the areas to be hit by the cyclone and arranged for a total of 40,000 people to move to safe higher areas before the arrival of the storm. ..(more)

[donsu]

1. thanks for the report

nt