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AMERICAS 
Hurricane Gustav set to hit Cuba
Saturday, 30 August, 2008
Hurricane Gustav has closed down on western Cuba after ripping through the Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica and leaving 85 people dead in its wake.
The western province of Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Youth were put on the highest level of weather alert as tens of thousands of people were asked to leave their homes ahead in advance of a strengthening storm, which is expected to hit the western tip of the island.
"Gustav is expected to come as a category two or three storm," warned Cuban meteorologist Jose Rubiera.
"It will produce a storm surge and torrential rains in the western part of the country."
Late Friday, the hurricane hit the Cayman Islands, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Barrelling earlier across Jamaica, it killed at least 11 people. In Haiti, it left 66 dead.
In addition, 10 people are considered missing there.
In the neighbouring Dominican Republic, the death toll stood at eight.
A major hurricane
Before dawn Saturday, the centre of Gustav was located about 530 kilometres east-southeast of the western tip of Cuba, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre reported.
Gustav has been packing maximum sustained winds close to 130 kilometers per hour, with higher gusts, making it a Category One hurricane on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale.
"Strengthening is forecast during the next two days, and Gustav could become a major hurricane as it approaches western Cuba," the NHC said.
President George W. Bush has declared states of emergency in Louisiana and Texas Friday ahead of Gustav's forecast landfall late Monday, when it could strike as a major storm of Category Three or higher.
Katrina, also a Category Three when it struck the Gulf Coast, killed some 1,800 people, most of them in New Orleans.
Oil makers brace for bad weather
British oil group BP, US ConocoPhillips and Anglo-Dutch Shell on Thursday evacuated workers from their energy installations in the Gulf as Gustav loomed.
ExxonMobil said it was "identifying personnel for possible evacuation to shore."
About a quarter of US crude oil installations are located in the Gulf
of Mexico.
And the US Department of Energy said Friday that the government was prepared to tap its strategic oil reserve if a storm damages oil installations in the Gulf.
Meanwhile a separate system, Tropical Storm Hanna, churned northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and could become a hurricane in a few days, the NHC said.
On its current path Hanna could be over Cuba by the middle of next week.
The western province of Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Youth were put on the highest level of weather alert as tens of thousands of people were asked to leave their homes ahead in advance of a strengthening storm, which is expected to hit the western tip of the island.
"Gustav is expected to come as a category two or three storm," warned Cuban meteorologist Jose Rubiera.
"It will produce a storm surge and torrential rains in the western part of the country."
Late Friday, the hurricane hit the Cayman Islands, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Barrelling earlier across Jamaica, it killed at least 11 people. In Haiti, it left 66 dead.
In addition, 10 people are considered missing there.
In the neighbouring Dominican Republic, the death toll stood at eight.
A major hurricane
Before dawn Saturday, the centre of Gustav was located about 530 kilometres east-southeast of the western tip of Cuba, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre reported.
Gustav has been packing maximum sustained winds close to 130 kilometers per hour, with higher gusts, making it a Category One hurricane on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale.
"Strengthening is forecast during the next two days, and Gustav could become a major hurricane as it approaches western Cuba," the NHC said.
President George W. Bush has declared states of emergency in Louisiana and Texas Friday ahead of Gustav's forecast landfall late Monday, when it could strike as a major storm of Category Three or higher.
Katrina, also a Category Three when it struck the Gulf Coast, killed some 1,800 people, most of them in New Orleans.
Oil makers brace for bad weather
British oil group BP, US ConocoPhillips and Anglo-Dutch Shell on Thursday evacuated workers from their energy installations in the Gulf as Gustav loomed.
ExxonMobil said it was "identifying personnel for possible evacuation to shore."
About a quarter of US crude oil installations are located in the Gulf
of Mexico.
And the US Department of Energy said Friday that the government was prepared to tap its strategic oil reserve if a storm damages oil installations in the Gulf.
Meanwhile a separate system, Tropical Storm Hanna, churned northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and could become a hurricane in a few days, the NHC said.
On its current path Hanna could be over Cuba by the middle of next week.
