Strengthening Gustav threatens Jamaica
KINGSTON (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Gustav hit Jamaica with near hurricane-force winds and torrential rain on Thursday on a path toward western Cuba that could take it to the Gulf of Mexico oil fields as a strong hurricane next week.
As Gustav churned through the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Hanna formed in the Atlantic Ocean with 40 mph (65 kph) winds and on a track that could take it toward the Bahamas and Florida next week, the National Hurricane Center said.
Energy companies prepared for Gustav to deliver potentially the hardest hit on the heart of the U.S. Gulf oilpatch since the devastating 2005 hurricane season. Crude futures rose more than $2 to $120.50 a barrel before falling back as Gustav aimed deep into the heavy concentration of oil and natural gas platforms off Louisiana and Texas.
The area, which provides the United States with a quarter of its crude oil and 15 percent of its natural gas, was battered in 2005 by two major hurricanes, Katrina and Rita.
The seventh storm of a busy Atlantic hurricane season was 40 miles east of Kingston, Jamaica, by 2 p.m. EDT, the hurricane center said.
Its top sustained winds were 70 mph (110 kph), just short of the 74 mph (119 kph) hurricane threshold. Forecasters said it could become a hurricane at any moment.
New Orleans, the southern U.S. city devastated by Katrina three years ago, remained near the middle of the range of possible landfall locations on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal put New Orleans residents on alert for possible evacuations from Friday, the third anniversary of Katrina's strike, and issued a precautionary disaster declaration.
In Jamaica, reservoirs filled with rainwater, shops, post offices and schools shut their doors and authorities ordered nonessential workers to stay home as Gustav neared.
Natasha Morris, heading home from her restaurant job to batten down, said she would take this one seriously.
"I never took Hurricane Dean seriously the last time and it blew my house down," she said, referring to the powerful storm that slammed Jamaica's south coast last year as a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir Simpson scale of intensity.
"I'm going home now to secure my stuff."
Emergency officials on the lush, mountainous island urged residents to avoid gullies and flooded waterways. Forecasters said the storm might dump up to 25 inches of rain in isolated areas, triggering flash floods and mudslides.
REGAINING STRENGTH
Gustav barged ashore as a hurricane in Haiti on Tuesday and its torrential rains killed at least 23 people there and in the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Gustav is the first serious Atlantic storm since the devastating 2005 hurricane season to threaten New Orleans and the 4,000 U.S. energy platforms in the Gulf.
Katrina and Rita destroyed 124 platforms and severed pipelines when they swept through as Category 5 storms. Katrina came ashore near New Orleans on August 29, 2005, as a Category 3 hurricane and flooded the city. It killed 1,500 people along the Gulf Coast and caused $80 billion in damage.
Energy companies shut down production and pulled workers from offshore rigs on Thursday. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the nation's only deepwater oil port which normally offloads about 1 million barrels of foreign crude per day, expected to stop working over the weekend.
The U.S. Energy Department said it was prepared to open its emergency oil supply and the International Energy Agency said member nations were ready to release strategic oil stocks.
The White House, criticized for a slow response to Katrina, said it was closely monitoring Gustav. The storm could hit the coast as Republicans are gathered for their convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul to nominate John McCain for president.
On its current path Gustav will threaten the wealthy Cayman Islands offshore financial center and western Cuba before entering the Gulf between Cuba and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
Energy traders also warily watched newborn Hanna, 305 miles
northeast of the northern Leeward Islands. The storm was moving to the west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph) and was expected to become a hurricane by Sunday.
(Additional reporting by Erwin Seba in Houston; Writing by Jim Loney; Editing by Michael Christie)
Source: Yahoo News