US coastline faces new storm threat
September 5, 2011, Monday
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THE center of Tropical Storm Lee stretched across the central US Gulf Coast early yesterday, dumping torrential rain that threatened flooding in low-lying communities as a taste of what cities further inland could face in coming days.
Early yesterday, Lee boasted maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour, according to the US National Hurricane Center. The storm is crawling northeast at 5kph.
By yesterday, 15 to 25 centimeters of rain had fallen in some areas along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts, and the National Weather Service warned there was a threat of extensive flooding and flash floods because of the storm's slow movement inland.
The flash flood threat could be more severe as the rain moves from the flatter Gulf region north into the rugged Appalachians, National Hurricane Center specialist Robbie Berg said.
Closer to the Gulf, the water is "just going to sit there a couple of days," he said. "Up in the Appalachians, you get more threat of flash floods, so that is very similar to some of the stuff we saw in Vermont."
Vermont, in the northeast US, is still cleaning up and digging out dozens of communities damaged and isolated by heavy rain from Hurricane Irene last week.
Lee could dump up to 50cm of rain in some areas.
No injuries were reported so far from the storm. But even before Lee swept ashore, there were scattered instances of water entering low-lying homes and businesses in Louisiana's bayou country - a region of fast-eroding wetlands long vulnerable to hurricanes and tropical storms.
The storm prompted evacuations in bayou towns such as Jean Lafitte. Thousands were without power.
Profits were hit at many coastal businesses that depend on a strong end-of-summer weekend.
Alabama beaches that would normally be packed were largely empty, and rough seas closed the Port of Mobile. Mississippi's coastal casinos, however, were open and reporting brisk business.
The storm was denting offshore energy production. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said 237 oil and gas production platforms and 23 drilling rigs have been evacuated.
The agency estimates about 60 percent of oil production in the Gulf and almost 55 percent of natural gas production has been shut down.
Meanwhile, in the open Atlantic, Katia has regained hurricane status, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Katia has shifted between tropical storm and hurricane status while moving across the open Atlantic, according to the center's Berg.
Berg said that the storm strengthened recently and now has maximum sustained winds of about 120 kph, the lowest-level category 1 storm.
Early this morning, Katia's center was about 600km northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands, moving at 19 kph toward the northwest.
Berg said Katia poses no threat to land over the next 48 hours, but he urged those on the US East Coast and in Bermuda, a British territory in the mid-Atlantic, to remain watchful.
Early yesterday, Lee boasted maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour, according to the US National Hurricane Center. The storm is crawling northeast at 5kph.
By yesterday, 15 to 25 centimeters of rain had fallen in some areas along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts, and the National Weather Service warned there was a threat of extensive flooding and flash floods because of the storm's slow movement inland.
The flash flood threat could be more severe as the rain moves from the flatter Gulf region north into the rugged Appalachians, National Hurricane Center specialist Robbie Berg said.
Closer to the Gulf, the water is "just going to sit there a couple of days," he said. "Up in the Appalachians, you get more threat of flash floods, so that is very similar to some of the stuff we saw in Vermont."
Vermont, in the northeast US, is still cleaning up and digging out dozens of communities damaged and isolated by heavy rain from Hurricane Irene last week.
Lee could dump up to 50cm of rain in some areas.
No injuries were reported so far from the storm. But even before Lee swept ashore, there were scattered instances of water entering low-lying homes and businesses in Louisiana's bayou country - a region of fast-eroding wetlands long vulnerable to hurricanes and tropical storms.
The storm prompted evacuations in bayou towns such as Jean Lafitte. Thousands were without power.
Profits were hit at many coastal businesses that depend on a strong end-of-summer weekend.
Alabama beaches that would normally be packed were largely empty, and rough seas closed the Port of Mobile. Mississippi's coastal casinos, however, were open and reporting brisk business.
The storm was denting offshore energy production. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said 237 oil and gas production platforms and 23 drilling rigs have been evacuated.
The agency estimates about 60 percent of oil production in the Gulf and almost 55 percent of natural gas production has been shut down.
Meanwhile, in the open Atlantic, Katia has regained hurricane status, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Katia has shifted between tropical storm and hurricane status while moving across the open Atlantic, according to the center's Berg.
Berg said that the storm strengthened recently and now has maximum sustained winds of about 120 kph, the lowest-level category 1 storm.
Early this morning, Katia's center was about 600km northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands, moving at 19 kph toward the northwest.
Berg said Katia poses no threat to land over the next 48 hours, but he urged those on the US East Coast and in Bermuda, a British territory in the mid-Atlantic, to remain watchful.
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