Oman ? People dragged soaked bedding and carpets from homes Thursday after Cyclone Gonu’s winds blew down trees and power lines and its rains sent torrents of water and mud surging through Oman’s seaside capital, a city often called the Arab world’s tidiest.

After pummeling normally hot and dry Oman and Iran’s southeastern coast, Gonu weakened to a tropical storm and dissipated into a rainstorm Thursday night as it moved over the sea toward Iran. At least 28 people were dead, most of them in Oman, and 26 were missing.

The storm spared the region’s oil installations, and oil prices dipped on world markets.

With maximum sustained winds of 95 mph recorded Wednesday, Gonu was believed to be the strongest cyclone to hit Oman since record-keeping started in 1945.