MUSCAT, Oman (AP) -- A Royal Oman Police spokesman tells Oman TV there are 12 reported deaths from Cyclone Gonu.
The storm battered Oman's coast Wednesday with fierce winds and torrential rains, forcing thousands from their homes and shutting down oil installations before heading toward the world's most important crude oil tanker route.
The storm -- a rarity in the Middle East -- weakened slightly and dropped below hurricane strength late Wednesday, according to the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
It was expected to make landfall on the southeastern Iranian coast late Thursday, but it was likely to spare Iran's offshore oil installations that lie more than 120 miles to the west, the center and oil officials said.
In Muscat, the cyclone unleashed sheets of rainfall and howling winds rarely seen in the quiet seaside capital. Police and emergency vehicles could hardly move through the flooded streets, and authorities used text messages to warn people away from low-lying areas.
The storm caused little damage to Oman's relatively small oil fields. But raging seas prevented tankers from sailing from Omani ports, effectively shutting down the country's oil exports, said Nasser bin Khamis al-Jashimi of the Ministry of Oil and Gas.
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