جونو المدمر يضرب مسقط وخليج عمان
إجلاء الآلاف وإغلاق المدارس .. وإيران تستعد
إجلاء الآلاف وإغلاق المدارس .. وإيران تستعد
مسقط وكالات الأنباء :
ضرب إعصار جونو المدمر سواحل سلطنة عمان ومناطق أخري في منطقة الخليج بقوة لم تشهدها البلاد منذ عشرات السنين.. هطلت أمطار غزيرة واجتاحت الرياح الشديدة البالغ سرعتها 260 كيلو متراً في الساعة العاصمة مسقط التي تم إجلاء الآلاف من سكانها وسكان المناطق المطلة علي البحر خشية وقوع فيضانات شديدة تسونامي ذكر تليفزيون عمان أن الاعصار ضرب المناطق الشرقية مسقط وخليج عمان وأنه تمت تعبئة الجيش والبوليس والدفاع المدني.. وتم اغلاق المدارس والمنشآت العامة ابتداء من أمس وحتي يوم الأحد القادم. وارتفعت أسعار البترول وسط مخاوف من تأثير الاعصار علي المنشآت البترولية. وقد يؤدي الاعصار الي اغلاق خليج هرمز الذي يمر به نحو ربع بترول العالم.. وفي طهران حذرت وزارة الداخلية الايرانية السكان من إمكانية اقتراب إعصار جونو وأمرت باخلاء المساكن الواقعة قرب ميناءي بندر الجاسك وشاهبهار في مقاطعتي هورموزجان وسيستان وبلوشستان جنوبي البلاد المتوقع تعرضهما لأمطار غزيرة وفيضانات ورياح شديدة
Cyclone Gonu weakens
Jun 7, 2007
Jun 7, 2007
Cyclone Gonu waned into a storm as it passed into a major oil shipping route toward Iran on Thursday, but killed 12 people in Oman and halted the country's oil and gas exports for a third day.
Gonu, which peaked as a maximum-force Category Five hurricane on Tuesday and faded to a Category One hurricane on Wednesday is now an ordinary tropical storm, experts said.
The storm's maximum sustained wind speed is now about 45 miles per hour, the US military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center said, and it was likely to keep dissipating.
"As far as Oman is concerned it is over. Cyclone Gonu passed into the Gulf of Oman and is heading toward Iran but it is no longer a tropical cyclone," said Ahmad al-Harthi, head of Oman's meteorological department.
"It caused a lot of havoc in terms of high seas, rain, winds and floods in combination."
A relief official said 12 people had been confirmed killed by the storm which turned the streets of the capital Muscat into rivers, upturning cars and severing electricity and phone lines.
Relief efforts were still underway as the weather calmed but one shipper in Oman said Mina al Fahal, the only terminal for the country's 650,000 barrels per day crude exports, remained closed for a third day and the main liquefied natural gas terminal at Sur was unlikely to be operating either.
"Mina al Fahal is still closed until further notice and they will not give us any more information. They are currently trying to assess the damage at Port Qaboos," the shipper told Reuters, referring to a main cargo port.
"We have not been able to get in touch (with the LNG terminal) but apparently that area was badly hit so it is unlikely to open now."
Further north, the United Arab Emirates' port of Fujairah, one of the world's largest ship refuelling centres, reopened on Thursday morning after closing on Wednesday due to the weather.
Port director Moussa Murad said the port facilities had sustained no damages from high waves caused by the storm.
Oman state television showed streets filled with water and silt. All private and public sector institutions, including the stock exchange, were closed until Sunday due to the storm.
But Oman's central bank governor Hamood Sangour al-Zadjali said it would not have a major impact on the economy.
Waves pounded the east coast of the UAE, forcing some people to leave their homes and guests to leave beach resorts for more sheltered areas on Wednesday.
Shipping and port sources said on Wednesday that operations had continued without disruption through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, a major channel for oil shipments from the Gulf, source of a third of the world's sea-borne oil supplies.
A senior Iranian oil official said on Wednesday the storm was not expected to disrupt supplies from OPEC's number two exporter as its main terminals were inside the Gulf waterway.
Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company by output, said the storm was too far away to affect its facilities and its tankers were made to withstand high seas. Abu Dhabi's ADNOC said it would not be affected either.
Oman's weather centre, 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 metres high.
Gonu Cyclone strikes Oman
Jun 07, 07 | 7:39 am
Jun 07, 07 | 7:39 am
Cyclone Gonu hits the coastal areas of the Gulf of Oman.
MUSCAT, Oman (eTN) - The whole coastal pockets of Oman was battered with rains accompanied by heavy winds as cyclone Gonu lashed Oman on Wednesday.
Gonu, after hitting the Sharqiyah coast at 3am, gradually covered all the coastal areas of the Gulf of Oman that includes the governorates of Muscat and Musandam, the Batinah region as well as Dhahira, Dhakhliyah and Wusta regions with heavy thunderstorms and gale-force winds. Sur, the main town in Sharqiyah and the Masirah Islands were virtually cut off from the mainline as electricity and phones services were heavily affected.
Cyclone Gonu was initially packing winds of 260 kilometers (160 miles) an hour but they have now dropped to between 120 and 176 kilometers (70 and 105 miles) an hour, Omani weather officials said.
Latest reports said that more than 35 people are missing from Wadi Adai area in Muscat region while 4000 vehicles have been washed away in Al Ghubra and Qurum in capital area where the main flooding occurred.
The government had on Tuesday afternoon ordered all public and private sector establishments to remain closed until Saturday as a precaution, and all emergency services were on full alert and standing by to tackle any eventuality, officials said. In Oman, the army, police and civil defense have all been mobilized and a police officer said about 20,000 (7000 in Masirah Island alone) people been evacuated across the country.
All factories in the Port of Sohar in the Batinah region and oil terminals across the affected region were being closed down on Wednesday and employees evacuated. Residents of Muscat were fully geared up for the cyclone’s onslaught, mainly because of the repeated warnings and updates through newspapers, radio and TV released by the authorities. Almost everyone was confined to homes. In fact, it appeared the whole city looked deserted.
Power supply in many areas was cut while authorities have announced that even water supply would be affected tomorrow.
Speaking on phone from Al Ghubra, Shuaib Mohtesham, an accountant with Mehdi
Stores, said the whole area in front of Indian School, Gubra, is submerged. He is making plans to shift to terrace as his first floor flat is being geared up to drain water. His and wife’s cars have been washed away along with hundreds others.
All flights to and from Oman have been cancelled on Wednesday.
Oman Air, the national carrier, cancelled all scheduled flights to and from Muscat after 8pm on Tuesday until further notice. All incoming Oman Air flights were diverted to airports in Dubai, Doha and Bahrain. The company also moved all its aircraft to Salalah Civil Airport as a precaution.
Several other airlines also suspended operations to and from Muscat. Flights operated by Qatar Airways, Gulf Air, Air Arabia, Emirates, Indian Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines have all been cancelled. According weather officials though the cyclone has weakened and is moving away rains and winds are expected to continue today.
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