Cyclone Forces Oman to Evacuate 7,000
Pastor Dale Morgan
Cyclone Forces Oman to Evacuate 7,000*
The Associated Press
Monday, June 4, 2007; 5:31 PM
MUSCAT, Oman -- 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.