HOUSTON - Emergency officials pursued their rescue efforts on Sunday after Hurricane Ike barreled across a wide swath of Texas, deluging the city of Galveston with a wall of water, flooding coastal towns and leaving extensive damage across metropolitan Houston.
Tags: Environment, FEMA, Hurricane, U.S.
America’s largest refinery and Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre could be at risk of damage
A sign in Port Aransas, Texas. Photograph: Eric Gay
More than a million people in Texas have been warned they should leave their homes as hurricane Ike heads across the Gulf of Mexico towards the Texan coast, home to America’s largest concentration of refineries and chemical plants.
Continue reading »
Tags: Environment, Hurricane, Texas, U.S.
Tens of thousands of people fled coastal areas of Texas on Wednesday after Hurricane Ike spun off Cuba, roared into the Gulf of Mexico and headed toward the state with growing strength.
After pummeling Haiti, Cuba and other parts of the Caribbean, Ike refueled in the Gulf of Mexico and headed toward landfall near Corpus Christi, where it is expected to hit early Saturday as a Category 4 hurricane with winds exceeding speeds of 131 miles per hour.
Tags: Cuba, Environment, George Bush, Government, Haiti, Hurricane, National Guard, Texas, U.S.
HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) — Hurricane Ike tore across Cuba with 100-mph winds Monday, sending 50-foot waves crashing over buildings and forcing the evacuation of 900,000 people.
Fallen bricks crushed a van Monday in Camaguey, Cuba, as Hurricane Ike struck the island.
At 2 p.m., Ike’s eye had moved back over water off Cuba’s southern coast. Ike was a Category 2 hurricane, with steady 100-mph (160-kph) winds and higher gusts, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida.
Ike’s eye is expected to move back over Cuba on Tuesday, then move into the Gulf of Mexico and grow again in intensity.
Tags: Cuba, Environment, Flood, Florida, George Bush, Haiti, Hurricane, U.S.
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — Hurricane Ike moved past the southern Bahamas on Sunday, carrying high winds and heavy rain as the Category 4 storm surged forward on a track that could take it toward the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Obenson Etienne walks to his house Sunday in Providenciales, one of the isles in the Turks and Caicos.
The possibility prompted state and local officials in Florida and Louisiana to prepare for what may be the third major storm to affect the Gulf Coast in less than a month.
“Let’s hope it’s all a false alarm,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Sunday as he pre-emptively issued a state of emergency. His state is still recovering from Hurricane Gustav; more than 370,000 people there are still without power, nearly a week after Gustav made landfall, he said.
“There continues to be much uncertainty about the predicted track,” he said of Ike.
On Sunday, President Bush declared a state of emergency in Florida. The hurricane’s outer bands could start affecting the Florida Keys by Monday afternoon.
Tags: Bahamas, Cuba, Environment, Flood, Florida, George Bush, Government, Guantánamo, Haiti, Hurricane, Politics, U.S.
Tropical storm Hanna is closing in on North and South Carolina with receding flood waters in Haiti revealing the corpses of nearly 500 victims of the deadly weather system.
Hurricane Hanna as it nears the US coast Photo: AP
Hanna, the eighth tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, closed in on the US east coast on the verge of hurricane strength after leaving “catastrophic” conditions in Haiti, which it battered with strong winds and torrential rain for several days.
Tags: Caribbean, Environment, flash flood, Government, Haiti, Hurricane, Storm, U.S.
Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) — Tropical Storm Hanna skirted the Bahamas after killing dozens in Haiti and threatened to strike the U.S. Southeast as a hurricane by the weekend.
Farther out to sea, the “extremely dangerous” Hurricane Ike was packing 140-mph (225-kph) winds, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) — Hurricane Gustav threatens to hurt U.S. oil and natural-gas production and refining more severely than hurricanes Katrina and Rita did three years ago.
Gustav, downgraded to a Category 3 storm by the National Hurricane Center in Miami this morning, may strengthen to Category 4 later today and will make landfall as a “major” hurricane. The storm shut three-quarters of oil output in the region and refineries operated by Valero Energy Corp., the largest U.S. refiner, ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. There will be a special trading session today at the New York Mercantile Exchange.
“This storm will prove to be a worst-case scenario for the production region,” Jim Rouiller, senior energy meteorologist for Planalytics.com, said yesterday in an e-mailed message. “This storm will be more dangerous than Katrina.”
Tags: BP, Economy, Environment, Exxon, Hurricane, Oil, Shell, U.S.
Security for Hurricane Gustav
Blackwater is compiling a list of qualified security personnel for possible deployment into areas affected by Hurricane Gustav.
Applicants must meet all items listed under the respective Officer posting and be US citizens. Contract length is TBD.
Law Enforcement Officers (all criteria must apply)
1. Current sworn [may be full time, part time or reserve]
2. With arrest powers
3. Armed status (must indicate Armed and/or Semi Auto. Revolver only not accepted) expiration must be greater than 60 days out
4. Departmental credentials (not just a badge)
Tags: Blackwater, Government, Hurricane, Law enforcement, mercenaries, Politics, U.S.
AP changed the title to “New Orleans residents get out of Gustav’s way”
__________________________________________________________________________
(AFP/Matthew Hinton)
NEW ORLEANS - As dawn broke Sunday over a city under siege, bumper-to-bumper traffic was reported in nearly every direction as residents heeded orders to flee an only partially rebuilt New Orleans. Police and National Guard troops were on the streets, preparing to patrol evacuated neighborhoods. And officials nervously watched the track of Hurricane Gustav, a Category 3 monster that threatens a city still recovering nearly three years after Hurricane Katrina.
Tags: Caribbean, Cuba, DHS, Government, Homeland Security, Hurricane, Michael Chertoff, Military, National Guard, NEW ORLEANS, Police, U.S.
