28 Dead In Mideast After Rare Cyclone

"Gonu" Missed Region's Oil Installations, But Trashed Arab World's Tidiest City, Muscat

(AP)  A massive cleanup began Thursday in Oman's small seaside capital, after Cyclone Gonu ripped down trees and bridges and poured mud onto a city often called the Arab world's tidiest.

Gonu was blamed for 28 deaths so far, including three in Iran, but the storm spared the region's oil installations, with analysts saying its affect was minimal.

But as Gonu made its way across the Gulf of Oman to the Iranian coast, the cyclone — a rarity in the Middle East — was downgraded to a tropical storm, according to the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

In Muscat, people scoured the city searching for cars swept away when water barreled through the streets. Entire grassy fields disappeared under several feet of water, as angry waves battered the beachfront normally thronged with European tourists. Several people were seen taking photographs of the unusual destruction in this normally hot and dry country.

Muscat's mountain backdrop added to the havoc. The torrential rains that poured onto the bone-dry peaks of the city's postcard-perfect mountains, flowed into canyons and dry riverbeds that channeled the raging water directly into the city.

Muscat's lush palm and eucalyptus groves were blown over along with telephone and power lines. Even the normally sparkling blue sea resembled a foamy chocolate milk.

"The capital Muscat became a lake," Oman Royal Police spokesman Abdullah al-Harthi told Iran TV.

Residents spoke of a night of horror as turgid floodwaters ripped into their homes, carried off refrigerators and cars, and left their streets gouged by sinkholes and caked in shoals of mud.

Nidhal al-Masharafi, 31, hunkered all night on his rooftop with his wife and six children.

"The water broke through the walls. It came inside the house. It swept everything out," al-Mashrafi said. A kilometer from his home, he found his 2006 Subaru Outback, lying atop a taxi in the flooded neighborhood.

As the massive cleanup got under way, homeowners hauled soaked bedding and carpets from their villas, piling it in the streets for the bulldozers busy clearing away mud and rocks.

Gonu was scheduled to hit land on Iran's southeastern coast late Thursday, but U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center predicted it would further weaken to a tropical depression by then.

[mitch0927]

Maybe God is watching all of you and your stupid posts.

[octavianfdlr]

Did I understand this article to suggest that the capital of Oman was built in a river bed? (This seems a common occurence in places with little rain.)

Maybe we should stop building cities in river beds and swamps.

[thewatcher6]

God Is The Watcher

[bobacorn]

what?

[akkiko-2009]

A number of more cathastrophies coming your way unless you take heed of your belief and actions. While your eyes are open, your heart is closed to the grace of God for your pride is your god and your power is your weakness.

Gos is watching you....from a distance.

[akkiko-2009]

A number of more cathastrophies coming your way unless you take heed of your belief and actions. While your eyes are open, your heart is closed to the grace of God for your pride is your god and your power is your weakness.

Gos is watching you....from a distance.

[drivelphobe]

I hope this storm wipes Iran off of the face of the earth.

[dargay]

singinrick: what was God telling Americans with hurrican katrina?

[cathaleen]

Mother nature is very angry. Can't people take
the hint. Tornados, floods, fires, hurricanes,
cyclones, etc.

[ubrew12]

OR
maybe its just a cyclone...

[zippiez]

OR
Maybe God is saying "You people are trying to control that which you can't instead of that which you can."