Hurricane Season 2010 - Things are about to change...

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Olie-industrie vreest storm Alex


De olieindustrie in de Golf van Mexico maakt zich zorgen over tropische storm Alex. Oliemaatschappij Shell is bezig om personeel te evacueren van booreilanden in de buurt. Ook BP volgt storm Alex nauwkeurig.

Alex is de eerst tropische storm van het seizoen.

Vooralsnog lijkt er geen gevaar voor de schepen die aan het werk zijn rond het olielek bij het gezonken platform Deepwater Horizon, maar het Amerikaanse orkaancentrum waarschuwt dat de storm onvoorspelbaar is.

Op dit moment nadert de storm het Mexicaanse schiereiland Yucatan. Enkele honderden toeristen zijn op de vlucht geslagen voor de storm.

http://nos.nl/artikel/167785-olieindustrie-vreest-storm-alex.html

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Tropische storm Alex eist 10 doden in Centraal-Amerika

De tropische storm Alex heeft minstens tien doden geëist in Nicaragua, Guatemala en El Salvador. De storm veroorzaakte overstromingen en aardverschuivingen.

Alex was zondagochtend aanzienlijk afgezwakt, maar won 's avonds opnieuw aan kracht. Het hevige noodweer zorgde voor minstens tien doden.
Vanochtend omstreeks 5 uur haalt Alex windsnelheden tot 75 kilometer per uur. De storm bevind zich ter hoogte van Campeche en staat op het punt over de Golf van Mexico te razen.

Volgens het Amerikaans National Hurricane Center (NHC) kan Alex in de komende 48 uur uitgroeien tot orkaan. Hij zal wellicht niet over het door olie vervuilde gebied trekken, maar zal vermoedelijk wel de opruiming van de olie bemoeilijken. (belga/vsv)

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Op dinsdag 29 juni 2010 11:09 schreef Co_OL het volgende:

[..]

De storm gaat richting Harlingen

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Alex is First June Hurricane in Atlantic Since 1995


Alex not only became the first hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic season late on Tuesday, but also the first hurricane to form in June since 1995.

Alex intensified into a hurricane at 10 p.m. CDT on Tuesday when maximum-sustained winds increased to 75 mph.

Maximum-sustained winds were 80 mph at 1 a.m. CDT on Wednesday. The storm at that time was located about 195 miles east-southeast of La Pesca, Mexico, and 255 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas.

Further strengthening should take place before Alex slams onto the northeastern Mexico coast on Wednesday evening. Prior to landfall, Alex is expected to reach Category 2 hurricane status with winds of at least 96 mph.

Alex will threaten lives and property across northeastern Mexico and South Texas by unleashing flooding rain and powerful winds. Northeastern Mexico will bear the brunt of Alex's most destructive winds.

Have a question about Alex or hurricanes in general? Ask our expert meteorologists on Facebook.

Hurricane Alex marks the beginning of what AccuWeather.com Chief Hurricane Meteorologist Joe Bastardi has forecast as an extremely active Atlantic hurricane season. Bastardi is expecting a total of 18 to 21 named storms.

The start of this 2010 Atlantic hurricane season will also go down in history books as unusually active. Alex is the first Atlantic Basin hurricane to form in June in 15 years. The last June hurricane to develop in the Atlantic was Allison in 1995.

Allison intensified into a Category 1 hurricane in the eastern Gulf of Mexico on June 4, 1995. The storm weakened back to a tropical storm less than 24 hours later, prior to making landfall along the Florida Panhandle.

In the past 43 years, August 10 is the average date when the first hurricane has formed in the Atlantic Basin. The average date for the first tropical storm is not even in June, but is actually on July 9.

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South Padre Island, Texas (CNN) -- Residents of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico braced for tornadoes and flooding as Hurricane Alex lashed a sparsely populated area south of the Texas border early Thursday morning.

The storm made landfall along the Mexican coastline late Wednesday as a Category 2 storm, about 100 miles south of Brownsville, Texas.

Maximum sustained winds were 100 mph as Alex moved to the west at 10 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported. Forecasters said the storm was expected to continue in that direction and move farther inland over northeastern Mexico Thursday.

Heavy rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, especially in areas with mountainous terrain, the center said.

Shelters have opened throughout the Mexican state of Tamaulipas to house thousands of people affected by the rains, according to a statement from the office of the governor Wednesday night.

Tamaulipas is under "red alert," the statement said. Winds and rains from Alex are also expected to affect the Mexican states of Veracruz, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila.

Resident Claudia Aguirre told CNN that heavy rains had already caused many streets to flood Wednesday in the coastal city of Matamoros, Mexico, located across the border from Brownsville .

"We are getting bands of heavy rain and wind every 20 minutes," Matamoros resident Alexandro Hoopo said late Wednesday night.

At least 1,000 people in southern Texas were taking shelter in evacuation centers as Alex's winds and heavy rain squalls bore down on the coastline, officials in Cameron and Hidalgo counties reported.