Storm Isaac heads for U.S. Gulf Coast, hurricane warning issued
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Storm Isaac
heads for U.S. Gulf Coast, hurricane warning issued
By Kevin Gray | Reuters
MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Isaac swirled into the Gulf of
Mexico on Monday, threatening to disrupt U.S. offshore oil and gas
supplies and strengthen into a powerful hurricane that could make
landfall near Louisiana almost seven years to the day after
Katrina struck.
The storm swiped south Florida on Sunday before moving into the
warm Gulf waters, where it is expected to strengthen to a Category
2 hurricane and hit the Gulf Coast somewhere between Florida and
Louisiana by midweek, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The governors of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi declared
states of emergency as a hurricane warning went into effect for
the northern Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.
It included New Orleans, devastated when Hurricane Katrina swept
over the city on August 29, 2005, killing more than 1,800 people
and causing billions of dollars of damage along the coast.
"It is difficult to realize that to the day - seven years after
Katrina - another hurricane is headed our way," Mississippi
Governor Phil Bryant said.
"It is important for Mississippians to take this storm seriously
and prepare for potential impact."
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley ordered mandatory evacuations
beginning on Monday for residents in low-lying areas along the
coast.
Energy producers in the Gulf worked to shut down some of their
operations ahead of in what could be the biggest test for U.S.
energy installations since 2008, when Hurricanes Gustav and Ike
disrupted offshore oil output for months and damaged onshore
natural gas processing plants, pipelines and some refineries.
Some Gulf residents started stocking up on supplies and securing
their homes. In New Orleans, long lines formed at some gas
stations and in Gulfport, Mississippi, people crowded supermarkets
to buy bottled water and canned food.
"I sense a high level of anxiety," said New Orleans Mayor Mitch
Landrieu. "The timing, as fate would have it, on the anniversary
of Katrina has everybody in a state of alertness, but that is a
good thing."
Isaac is forecast to become a hurricane either Monday or Tuesday.
The National Hurricane Center said the storm was expected to
eventually intensify to a Category 2 hurricane with extremely
dangerous sustained winds of 105 miles per hour (169 kph) as it
swept across the Gulf of Mexico.
Forecasters are predicting a more westward track that could bring
Isaac over the heart of the U.S. offshore oil patch, which
produces about 23 percent of U.S. oil output and 7 percent of its
natural gas.
With the threat to offshore oil infrastructure and Louisiana
refineries, U.S. crude oil prices traded up 75 cents to $96.90 a
barrel in Asia early Monday.
SHUTTING OIL PRODUCTION
Meteorologists at Weather Insight, an arm of Thomson Reuters,
predict the storm will spur short-term shutdowns of 85 percent of
the U.S. offshore oil production capacity and 68 percent of the
natural gas output.
Once ashore, the storm could wreak havoc on low-lying fuel
refineries along the Gulf Coast that account for about 40 percent
of U.S. refining capacity.
That could send gasoline prices spiking just ahead of the U.S.
Labor Day holiday, analysts said. "It's going right in the heart
of refinery row," Phil Flynn, an analyst with Price Futures Group
in Chicago, said on Sunday.
London-based BP Plc , the biggest U.S. Gulf producer, said it was
shutting production at all of its Gulf of Mexico oil and gas
platforms and evacuating all workers on Sunday.
Late Sunday night, Isaac was about 75 miles (120 km)
west-southwest of Key West at the southernmost tip of the U.S.
mainland, packing top sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) and
moving west-northwest at 14 mph (24 kph).
It was expected to approach the Gulf Coast on Tuesday.
Issac's westward track meant the worst of its weather would miss
Tampa, where the Republican National Convention was expected to
open its four-day meeting on Monday but official events were
delayed until Tuesday because of the storm.
Tampa, located on Florida's west coast, still faces the threat of
winds, heavy rains and storm surge, forecasters said.
Isaac faced favorable conditions to strengthen over the warm
waters of the Gulf, increasing the possibility it could intensify
beyond a Category 2 hurricane, said NHC meteorologist David
Zelinsky.
Tropical-force winds from the massive storm stretched across 400
miles (644 km), with rain bands extending even further, he added.
In south Florida, winds from Isaac forced cancellations of
hundreds of flights in and out of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and other
south Florida airports on Sunday. Miami Mayor Carlos Gimenez
reported more than 500 cancellations affecting Miami International
Airport alone.
More than half of the restaurants and other businesses were
shuttered in the tourist haven of Key West after many visitors
heeded official warnings to head home early.
GULF COAST RESIDENTS URGED TO GET PREPARED
Isaac moved into the Gulf of Mexico after spending several days
sweeping across the Caribbean.
In Haiti, Isaac added to the misery of more than 350,000 survivors
of the 2010 earthquake still living in flimsy resettlement camps
as water gushed into tents and corrugated plastic shacks were
ripped apart by the wind.
Authorities in the impoverished nation said the storm had killed
eight people, including three children.
In the Dominican Republic, officials said three people were
missing, and confirmed the death of the mayor of a town near Santo
Domingo, who was swept away as he tried to save another person
from a flooded river.
No deaths or injuries were reported in Cuba, which got off lightly
when the storm crossed its eastern flank instead of raking up the
length of the island as originally predicted.
In Mississippi, Robert Latham, the director of the state's
emergency management agency, urged residents to get prepared for
the storm's possible arrival.
"This is important to remember, this is a huge storm," he said. "I
don't have to tell you what a storm like that can do." (Additional
reporting by Tom Brown and David Adams in Miami, Kathy Finn in New
Orleans, Emily Le Coz in Tupelo, Matthew Robinson in New York,
Kristen Hays in Houston, Jeff Franks and Nelson Acosta in Havana,
Susana Ferreira in Port-au-Prince and Manuel Jimenez in Santo
Domingo; Editing by John Stonestreet in London)