Saturday, June 9, 2007

A storm in the Gulf

I am talking here about the super cyclone Gonu' which struck the Persian Gulf few days ago.The cyclone had its first target Muscat , the capital of Oman.Gonu as is called in Maldives language represents a bag of palm leaves.

As expected there were severe winds and high waves across the coastal regions of Oman.It was seen that there were about 12 yards high waves in Sur and the nearby coastal areas.It was predicted that there would be as high as 36 feet and winds with speed of 160 miles per hour.The cyclone hit Oman very badly destructing major parts of the city.The airport had to be closed during that time as International flights could not land or take off due to the bad weather.

The cyclone was further expected to hit Iran where it could have created a different story than in Muscat.It was predicted that Gonu' had the capacity to drop rainfall amounting to Iran's one year rainfall in a single day.It could have been a grave situation if the storm intensity would have increased.Thanks to god that the storm weakened in its path to Iran and further casualties were avoided.

In Muscat the city was flooded with water and several cars were seen washed away with the strong flow of water.The biggest threat was to the oil fields and oil supply.The storm however did not pass through the oil fields area and the damage thus averted.The Government had taken all possible steps so as to prevent any major damage to the human life.There was regular information being sent through SMS regarding the progress of the storm.

The storm did claim human life casualties in Muscat.To view pictures of 'Gonu' Click on the photograph titled 'Gonu pictures' at the top left hand side.