http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080828...cal_weather;_ylt=AuExIpH9MWm5no8Y3zf1u7lI2ocA
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Tourists and oil workers fled Thursday as Gustav churned toward Jamaica and the Cayman Islands with winds near hurricane *****. Louisiana called a state of emergency and put the National Guard on standby, hoping to avoid the chaos of Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
Oil prices jumped above $120 a barrel Thursday on fears that the storm could affect production in the Gulf area, home to 4,000 oil rigs and half of America's refining capacity. Hundreds of offshore workers pulled out as analysts said the storm could send U.S. gas prices back over $4 a gallon.
"Prices are going to go up pretty soon. You're going to see increases by 5, 10, 15 cents a gallon," said Tom Kloza, publisher of the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J. "If we have a Katrina-type event, you're talking about gas prices going up another 30 percent."
In the Atlantic, meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna formed on a course that pointed toward the U.S. east coast. It was too early to predict whether Hanna could threaten land, but Gustav was causing jitters from Mexico's Cancun resort to the Florida panhandle.
With top sustained winds just below hurricane strength, Gustav was projected to become a major Category 3 hurricane after passing between Cuba and Mexico and entering the warm and deep Gulf waters. Some models showed Gustav taking a path toward Louisiana and other Gulf states devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency to lay the groundwork for federal assistance, and put 3,000 National Guard troops on standby. New Orleans officials began preliminary planning to evacuate and lock down the city if the current projections prove accurate.
"I'm panicking," said Evelyn Fuselier of Chalmette, whose home was submerged in 14 feet (4 meters) of Katrina's floodwaters. "I keep thinking, 'Did the Corps fix the levees?,' 'Is my house going to flood again?' ... 'Am I going to have to go through all this again?'"
In Gustav's ****, Haitians struggled to find affordable food. Jean Ramando, an 18-year-old banana grower, said winds tore down a dozen of his ******'s banana trees, so he was doubling his price.
"The wind blew them down quickly, so we need to make some money quickly," he said.
Shaping up to be a bad hurricaine season.New Orleans has still not recovered from "Katrina" and could be devastated again.
And this is now having a political effect as we near the anniversary of "Katrina".The republicans are scheduled to begin their convention Monday with Bush appearing that night.They may call it off for that night as Bush may not show up and the republicans may not wish to be seen as having a gala while NO is getting pounded .They are worried about appearing as they did during "Katrina" as not paying enough attention to what was happening and responding initially slowly and poorly.
Oh and BTW these stronger storms are related to the higher than they used to be temps of the water in the gulf of mexico which is related to the global warming problem.And this could also drive up the price of oil,in fact it already has as is mentioned in the story,with all the gulf oil rigs which are under threat.At least the people of NO seem to have learned the lesson of Katrina and are planning to get out.Not as tough as it was to do that as last time too I'm sure with NO only having about 1/2 the population they did before "Katrina" and the ones who did return are probably more capable of leaving this time as I bet most of the poorer people who did not have cars last time to jump in and leave in are the ones who never returned to NO and permanently relocated somewhere else.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Tourists and oil workers fled Thursday as Gustav churned toward Jamaica and the Cayman Islands with winds near hurricane *****. Louisiana called a state of emergency and put the National Guard on standby, hoping to avoid the chaos of Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
Oil prices jumped above $120 a barrel Thursday on fears that the storm could affect production in the Gulf area, home to 4,000 oil rigs and half of America's refining capacity. Hundreds of offshore workers pulled out as analysts said the storm could send U.S. gas prices back over $4 a gallon.
"Prices are going to go up pretty soon. You're going to see increases by 5, 10, 15 cents a gallon," said Tom Kloza, publisher of the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J. "If we have a Katrina-type event, you're talking about gas prices going up another 30 percent."
In the Atlantic, meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna formed on a course that pointed toward the U.S. east coast. It was too early to predict whether Hanna could threaten land, but Gustav was causing jitters from Mexico's Cancun resort to the Florida panhandle.
With top sustained winds just below hurricane strength, Gustav was projected to become a major Category 3 hurricane after passing between Cuba and Mexico and entering the warm and deep Gulf waters. Some models showed Gustav taking a path toward Louisiana and other Gulf states devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency to lay the groundwork for federal assistance, and put 3,000 National Guard troops on standby. New Orleans officials began preliminary planning to evacuate and lock down the city if the current projections prove accurate.
"I'm panicking," said Evelyn Fuselier of Chalmette, whose home was submerged in 14 feet (4 meters) of Katrina's floodwaters. "I keep thinking, 'Did the Corps fix the levees?,' 'Is my house going to flood again?' ... 'Am I going to have to go through all this again?'"
In Gustav's ****, Haitians struggled to find affordable food. Jean Ramando, an 18-year-old banana grower, said winds tore down a dozen of his ******'s banana trees, so he was doubling his price.
"The wind blew them down quickly, so we need to make some money quickly," he said.
Shaping up to be a bad hurricaine season.New Orleans has still not recovered from "Katrina" and could be devastated again.
And this is now having a political effect as we near the anniversary of "Katrina".The republicans are scheduled to begin their convention Monday with Bush appearing that night.They may call it off for that night as Bush may not show up and the republicans may not wish to be seen as having a gala while NO is getting pounded .They are worried about appearing as they did during "Katrina" as not paying enough attention to what was happening and responding initially slowly and poorly.
Oh and BTW these stronger storms are related to the higher than they used to be temps of the water in the gulf of mexico which is related to the global warming problem.And this could also drive up the price of oil,in fact it already has as is mentioned in the story,with all the gulf oil rigs which are under threat.At least the people of NO seem to have learned the lesson of Katrina and are planning to get out.Not as tough as it was to do that as last time too I'm sure with NO only having about 1/2 the population they did before "Katrina" and the ones who did return are probably more capable of leaving this time as I bet most of the poorer people who did not have cars last time to jump in and leave in are the ones who never returned to NO and permanently relocated somewhere else.
