Tehran - Three people were killed and fifty injured in
southern Iran by Cyclone Gonu, state television network IRIB reported
Thursday.
The IRIB report had said that two people were killed in Jask and
one in Bandar-Abbas in the Hormuzgan province. The IRIB website said
that the two killed in Jask were relief workers whose lorry fell into
the Tabarkan river.
One man died in the provincial capital Bandar Abbas but it is
still unclear whether he was killed by the cyclone or in a motorbike
accident.
The head of the emergency unit in the Hormuzgan province confirmed
that two people drowned and fifty others were injured and had to be
hospitalised.
No casualties have yet been reported from the south-eastern
Sistan-Beluchistan province but heavy rainfalls reaching over 110
millimetre have made it impossible for relief teams reaching flood-
hit villages in the province.
Even choppers could not be used in the area due to the strong
wind.
Sistan-Beluchistan governor Habibullah Dehmardeh told Mehr news
agency that the rainfalls in the last 48 hours were more than the
whole rain the province has had during last year.
According to news agency reports Thursday, no major damage was
caused by Cyclone Gonu in Iran, but there was still a state of
emergency in at least two provinces in the south and south-west of
the country,
Residents of the ports Jask and Chabahar in the provinces of
Hormuzgan and Sistan-Beluchistan respectively were ordered to leave
and seek temporary shelter in safer areas for the next 24 hours at
least.
The governor of Sistan-Beluchistan said that so far no major
damage had been witnessed in the province, but all local officials
were still on alert as the storm could still hit the province during
Thursday.
Also officials in Hormuzgan said that despite strong winds on
Wednesday night measuring 200 kilometres per hour, there have been no
casualties in the Persian Gulf province.
Damage in both provinces was reportedly limited to toppled trees
and temporary difficulties with the electricity supply.
The interior ministry, however, warned residents in the two
provinces to stay away from coastal areas and avoid sea transport as
wave heights in the Persian Gulf could reach more than five metres.
The country's civil aviation organization has cancelled flights to
the airports which might be affected by Cyclone Gonu.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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