Gustav stalls offshore in Haiti after killing 23

[DogPoundPup]

Source: Yahoo

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Gustav stalled offshore Wednesday and poured more misery onto Haiti after landslides and flooding killed 23 people. Oil workers began leaving their rigs and New Orleans drew up evacuation plans as forecasters warned the storm could plow into the U.S. Gulf coast as a major hurricane.

Gustav killed 15 people on Haiti's deforested southern peninsula, where it dumped 12 inches (30 centimeters) or more of rain. A landslide buried eight people, including a mother and six of her children, in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

Gustav weakened to a tropical storm over Haiti, but was expected to become a hurricane again as early as Thursday over the warm Caribbean waters between Cuba and Jamaica. Its expected track pointed directly at the Cayman Islands, an offshore banking center where residents boarded up homes and stocked up on emergency supplies.

By Labor Day, Gustav could make landfall anywhere from south Texas to the Florida panhandle, and hurricane experts said everyone in between should be concerned.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080828/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/tropical_weather

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Further on in the article after threats of OIL PRICE SPIKES since OIL Platforms ARE SITTING OUT THERE VULNERABLE. LET'S DRILL MORE OFFSHORE?!?!?! woo-hoo for the cons on that insane 'solution'! :rofl: ... (((Oil prices spiked more than US$2 to close above US$118 a barrel, rising for a third day on fears that Gustav — like Katrina and Rita — could damage the Gulf Coast energy infrastructure, home to 15 percent of the nation's natural gas output, a quarter of its oil production and nearly half its refining capacity.)))


Here's the really serious message in the write-up:
<Gustav is particularly worrisome because there are few surrounding wind currents capable of shearing off the top of the storm and diminishing its power, the hurricane center said. "Combined with the deep warm waters, rapid intensification could occur in a couple of days.">

[dipsydoodle]

1. Link updated one minute ago

Now off the coast of Jamaica.

Keep your head down Malaise.

[Dead_Parrot]

2. EarlG came up with a rather nice graphic for your second point:

[Stern21]

4. I love that graphic.

Subtle and to the point.

[lonestarnot]

6. And the other side. He left that one off Hanna Hanna 2fer.

[truthisfreedom]

3. Might just wipe out offshore tax-haven banks.

[izquierdista]

5. Everybody get ready!

Bake some birthday cake and go to a tarmac in Arizona. Tune up the guitar and go play some riffs in San Diego.