I
DON'T
THINK
SO !!
...A STORM SURGE OF 2 TO 4 FT ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS CAN BE EXPECTEDIN THE WARNING AREA IN AREAS OF ONSHORE WINDS....
August 4, 2008
1225z
UNISYS Visual Satellite
The 'sunrise' adds dynamic to the storm. The hot waters of the Gulf fueled the development of the lastest storm this season, but, it is enhanced in dynamics by the solar radiation. The central pressure has stabilized at 1002 millibars, HOWEVER, it is the storm surge of a 'continuous' near shore storm that will plague the Gulf Coast. So long as the storm 'sits and spins' it will be driving tides higher with prolonged pounding of the coastal plains.
August 4, 2008
1440z
UNISYS Visual Satellite Image ( 12 hour loop )
Shell evacuating 40 offshore workers due to storm (click here)
NEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Shell Oil said on Monday it would begin evacuating 40 workers from oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico as a precaution due to the effects of Tropical Storm Edouard.
"No further evacuations are planned at this time and based on current information and forecast, we do not expect any impact on Shell operated production in the Gulf of Mexico," the company said in a release. (Reporting by Richard Valdmanis)
Storm Edouard shuts refinery, hits shipping (click here)
Reuters
Monday August 4 2008
By Erwin Seba
HOUSTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Edouard forced shut a huge offshore oil port, a refinery, some oil production and disrupted shipping as the storm raced toward the Texas-Louisiana coast on Monday.
Energy companies evacuated staff from offshore platforms due to Edouard, the second named storm of the season to threaten oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico, with Apache shutting a small amount of output.
Marathon shut its Texas City, Texas refinery and Valero Energy Corp warned its plants in the region could be affected after the storm halted inbound traffic to the Houston Ship Channel and the Sabine Pass ship channel.
"We have started an orderly shut-down in preparation for the storm," said Marathon spokeswoman Angela Graves.
Packing 50 miles per hour (85 kph) winds, Edouard swept across the northern Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles (135 km) south-southwest of Grand Isle, Louisiana, threatening to come ashore on the Texas-Louisiana coast.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Edouard had about a 20 percent chance of becoming a hurricane by the time it reaches land.
The Gulf of Mexico supplies about a quarter of U.S. crude oil output and 15 percent of its natural gas, while Gulf Coast refiners make about a quarter of domestic gasoline.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the only deep-water U.S. oil port and a major conduit for the country's crude oil imports, temporarily suspended offloading oil tankers in the Gulf of Mexico due to high waves and winds.
The port's onshore storage continued to supply refiners with crude on-hand, however, a spokeswoman said....
U.S. Coast Guard closes inbound traffic at Houston channel (click here)
By Steve Gelsi
Last update: 11:39 a.m. EDT Aug. 4, 2008
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. Coast Guard has closed ship traffic into the Houston Ship Channel, which provides access to the largest oil and gas operations in the U.S., a spokesperson from the Port of Houston Authority said. Ship traffic within the channel itself is still allowed. The move by the Coast Guard came in response to Tropical Storm Edouard.
