|
40 000 flee as Gonu hits
06/06/2007 22:06 - (SA)
Tehran - Cyclone Gonu, the worst tropical storm to hit the Gulf in decades, made landfall in Iran on Wednesday afternoon, packing winds of 200km/h and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, officials said.
The storm hit the east coast of Oman earlier in the day, with winds snapping trees and blowing over street signs, while heavy rains flooded some roads.
There were no reports of casualties in either country.
By evening, Iran was starting to feel the full brunt of the weather in the southern coastal provinces of Hormorzgan and Sistan Baluchestan, which lie only about 100km across the Gulf from northern Oman.
Zeinol Abedin Ramezani, the head of natural disasters in Sistan Baluchestan, said "all the inhabitants of the regions of Chahbahar and Konarak have been evacuated to a distance of one kilometre from the coastal zone".
In Zahedan province, to the north of Sistan Baluchestan, an official said "around 40 000 people have been evacuated to higher areas since 03:00 (23:30 GMT)".
Gonu - whose name in the language of the Maldives means a bag made of palm fronds - initially packed winds of 260km/h an hour and was expected to be the strongest to hit the Arabian peninsula since 1977.
- AFP
|
News
