Muscat, Oman ? A powerful cyclone menaced Oman’s central coast with strong winds and rain today after thousands of residents fled to higher ground. Forecasters said the Arabian Peninsula’s strongest storm in 60 years was on a course for southern Iran and the oil-rich Persian Gulf.

Cyclone-force winds of Gonu, which had been churning northwest through the Indian Ocean, reached the Omani coastal towns of Sur and Ra’s al-Hadd. Civil Defense said the storm was dropping heavy rains on the capital, Muscat, and other nearby towns. But there were no immediate reports of any serious damage.

At 9 p.m. CDT, Cyclone Gonu was centered just off central Oman, about 110 miles southeast of Muscat, and was traveling along the coastline at 9 mph, according to the U.S. military’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

The storm had weakened somewhat during the day but was still packing winds of up to 95 mph and churning up ocean waves, predicted to reach as high as 36 feet, Oman civil defense officials said.

Even with the weaker wind speeds, Gonu is expected to be the strongest cyclone to hit the Arabian Peninsula since record keeping started in 1945.

A cyclone is the term used for hurricanes in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific.

Gonu was expected to skirt the region’s biggest oil installations but could disrupt shipping in the Straits of Hormuz, causing a spike in prices, oil analysts said.