Cyclone Gonu pummelled Oman yesterday, halting oil and gas
exports for a second day and forcing thousands to flee the coast,
but weakened as it moved through the Arabian Sea, a major route for
Gulf oil shipments.
The storm, which peaked to a maximum-force Category Five
hurricane on Tuesday, has been downgraded to a Category One
hurricane, with a maximum sustained wind speed of about 75 mph, the
US military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.
Oman's meteorology department said the storm's center made
landfall in Oman around midnight and was moving northwest to
Muscat, bringing torrential rains, strong winds and high waves.
"The eastern region has absorbed most of the impact but we
expect the rain to continue tonight and early tomorrow as the
cyclone moves northwest over Oman," said director Ahmed
al-Harthi.
"There could be local rainfall on Friday but it should have
finally dissipated by then."
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said it would reach Iran in the
next two to three days but would continue to weaken.
A senior Iranian oil official said the cyclone was not expected
to disrupt supplies from OPEC's number two exporter as its main
terminals were inside the Persian Gulf waterway.
In Oman, however, the country's only outlet for 650,000 barrels
per day of crude exports, Mina al-Fahal, was shut for a second day
as was the Sur terminal, which handles 10 million tons per year of
liquefied natural gas.
The United Arab Emirates' eastern port of Fujairah on the
Arabian Sea has been cleared of anchored vessels and is closed to
all ships until further notice, the state news agency said.
More than 100 ships are anchored along the Fujairah coastline
and around 180 vessels, mainly oil tankers, pass through the area
daily.
Lieutenant Commander Marn Balolong, meteorologist on the USS
Nimitz, which is in the Gulf, said it would be unsafe for ships to
pass through the Strait of Hormuz in the next 48 hours but said
they would speed up after that to return to schedule.
But shipping sources there had been no disruption to oil tanker
transit so far.
No casualties confirmed
Strong winds and heavy rain turned the deserted streets of
Muscat into rivers as people heeded warnings to stay at home or
shelter in buildings that could withstand strong winds.
"So far we have not confirmed any casualties. But the power is
out and phones are disconnected in many areas so we just don't know
for sure," said Abdallah al-Harthi, spokesman for the Oman relief
committee.
Gonu has caused some material damage on the coast of both Oman
and the UAE but not on a catastrophic scale. Waves pounded the
eastern coast of the UAE and some people were evacuated.
All private and public sector institutions, including the stock
exchange, were closed until Sunday due to the storm.
Oman's airport was closed, an airport official said.
The port of Sohar, north of Muscat, was effectively closed too
but had not been expecting any ships anyway.
Oman's weather center, which has been keeping records since
1890, says Gonu could be the strongest storm to reach Oman's coast
since 1977 though meteorologists say milder tropical storms are
common in the region from mid-May to the end of June.
Iranian state television said waves had reached six meters high
and coastal residents had been told to avoid travel by sea.
To the sheltered west of Oman, the world's top oil exporter
Saudi Arabia, said on Tuesday that its main oil region was safe
though it was monitoring the storm and had an emergency plan.
(China Daily via agencies June 7, 2007)
