Updated News @ 1330z 6/6/07
 

Latest from RSOE HAVARIA Emergency and Disaster Information Service

Headline: Tropical Storm – Middle-East – Oman
 Description: A powerful cyclone approaching the oil-rich Persian Gulf area forced the evacuation Monday of nearly 7,000 people from an Omani island, a government official said. Cyclone Gonu, with winds of 160 miles per hour and gusts of 195 miles per hour, was headed northwest through the Indian Ocean toward Oman’s east coast, said Weather Underground meteorologist Tim Roche. Government authorities started the evacuations from Masira, an island off the east coast of Oman, said General Malik bin Suleiman al-Muamri, head of the country’s civil defense. Oil prices edged upward, though the cyclone was not necessarily the reason, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. Oman’s oil reserves and production are small compared to some of its Middle Eastern neighbors. “I don’t know if you can really attribute any of the gain to the cyclone,” he said. The government in neighboring Saudi Arabia issued a statement reassuring its people and the oil markets that it would not be seriously affected by the storm. The storm was expected to weaken before starting to lash Oman on Tuesday, with winds of 115 mph. The most powerful part of the storm was expected to hit Oman on Thursday before moving north into southern Iran. Even with the weaker wind speeds, Gonu would be the strongest cyclone to hit the Arabian Peninsula since record keeping started in 1945, Roche said. A cyclone is the term used for hurricanes in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific.

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Headline: Tropical Storm – Middle-East – Iran
 Description: Authorities evacuated hundreds of residents of the Iranian port of Chabahr on the Coast of Oman Sea on Wednesday out of fear of an approaching cyclone, a local official said. Southern Iran and the oil-rich Persian Gulf were next in its path of cyclone Gonu, which was lashing Oman’s eastern coast since late Tuesday, with thousands of people evacuated from Oman’s low-lying areas in what was the strongest recorded storm to hit the Arabian peninsula. “University and school students were moved to higher ground in the area to avoid the cyclone effects,” Hojjat Ali Shayanfar, said head of emergency services in Iran’s Sistan Baluchistan province. Shayanfar gave no figures but said residents from low-laying parts of the town of Chabahr were evacuated. “We also turned off a local electric power plant as a preventive measure.” Initial winds reaching the coastal town measured 50-60 kilometers per hour (30-37 mph). Iran’s meteorological department in a statement carried by state television warned people in other coastal areas and islands in the Oman Sea and Strait of Hormuz to keep their distance from the waters and avoid any sea transport. It also said that height of the waves would reach to 5.5 meters (18 feet), a rare record in the area. “The storm will begin at midnight on Wednesday and will weaken gradually in the Lut desert in central Iran in the coming days,” the state TV’s weather forecast said. Meanwhile the IRNA official news agency reported that four boats capsized during the storm but no casualties were reported. The cyclone, Gonu, would be the strongest cyclone to hit the area since record keeping started in 1945. A cyclone is the term used for hurricanes in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific.