Perilous Times and Climate Change
Tropical Storm Bonnie moving toward oil spill
By JUAN McCARTNEY
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 22, 2010; 7:07 PM
NASSAU, Bahamas -- A rainstorm in the southern Bahamas accelerated into
Tropical Storm Bonnie on Thursday while following a course that could
take it over the site of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Rain and lightning raked the low-lying Turks and Caicos Islands and the
Bahamas, and forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami
said the storm could reach the Gulf of Mexico by Saturday.
By Thursday evening, the center said Bonnie had maximum sustained winds
of 40 mph (65 kph), and was centered about 200 miles (320 kilometers)
southeast of the Bahamian capital of Nassau. It already had caused
flooding in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
A broken oil well has spewed somewhere between 94 million and 184
million gallons into the Gulf before a cap could be attached. The
crisis - the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history - unfolded
after the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11
workers.
Some experts worry the hurricane season could worsen environmental
damage from the spill, with powerful winds and large waves pushing oil
deeper into estuaries and wetlands and also depositing more of the
pungent, sticky mess on beaches.
As the storm advanced Thursday, skies darkened and people stocked up on
water and food in the southern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, island
chains that are well-accustomed to rough weather. Many businesses
remained open, but schools were already closed for the summer.
Shannelle Lightbourne, 27, shopped at a market in the island of
Providenciales in Turks and Caicos after hearing warnings that it would
rain heavily.
"I am stocking up what I can," she said. "I may not be able to leave my
house."
Donna Musgrove, a businesswoman in Providenciales, said some streets
were flooded. "It's raining from one end of the island to the other,"
she said. "The skies are completely dark."
The tropical depression did not pose a threat to tourist resorts in the
islands.
Tourist Ezra Uzzel, 45, of North Carolina, said he would not cut short
his two-week vacation in the Turks and Caicos.
"This if our third day, and if the reports are right, by the weekend we
should have good weather again," he said.
Residents in the southeastern Bahamas endured heavy rains and copious
lightning, but no damages or injuries had been reported. Officials with
the Emergency Operations Center said they would travel to the area with
basic supplies as soon as the weather improved.
Julius Bonaby, 47, of Bahamas' Crooked Island, said he went to the
grocery store early Thursday and spent most of the day listening to
radio weather reports with his wife and two children.
"There's a lot of wind," he said. "We're hoping it'll pass over."
A tropical storm warning was issued for the central and northwestern
Bahamas, for Florida's east coast south of Golden Beach and also along
Florida's west coast northward to Bonita Beach.
The system was expected bring heavy winds and rains to the Florida Keys
in the next few days, but emergency officials said they were not
planning any mandatory evacuations since they did not expect a major
storm surge.
As a precaution, storm shelters will open for tourists and residents
who live on boats or have special needs.
In the Dominican Republic, where roughly 1,500 people were evacuated,
rice fields were destroyed and 14 communities left isolated after
bridges collapsed. A 14-year-old boy died in Puerto Rico on Sunday
after drowning in a swollen river.
Haiti's Department of Civil Protection reported minor flooding in the
northern Artibonite region but no injuries or major damage.
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Associated Press Writer Vivian Tyson in Providenciales, Turks and
Caicos, contributed to this report.