Hurricane Rita - Cuba/Gulf of Mexico: OCHA Situation Report No. 1
This report is based on information provided by the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Cuba and several media report.
1. The Hurricane RITA, classified already category IV event according to the Saffir-Simpson scale, has been affecting the territory of Cuba during the last days. RITA continues advancing in the Gulf of Mexico due west, leaving behind in Cuba torrential rains.
2. Torrential rains and thunderstorms, accompanied by strong wind squalls, some of them up to 100 km an hour, pounded many areas of Cuba for several days. Schools remained closed in Havana for two consecutive days, but they reopened today.
3. Pinar del Rio province, Cuba’s westernmost, is still receiving rains - occasionally torrential- and strong winds from the South as RITA advances due west in the Gulf of Mexico.
4. Heavy rains associated with RITA are forecast to begin to affect the western and central Gulf of Mexico coastal areas tonight into Friday, 23 September 2005.
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Mexico: Hurricane Stan OCHA Situation Report No. 2
This Situation Report is based on information provided by the Secretariat of the Government of Mexico as well as the UN Country Team.
National Response
1. The Central Coordination Command at the Secretariat of the Federal Government, is providing assistance to the affected population of Hurricane Stan, as well as working on rehabilitation of living conditions in affected areas. It reports as follows:
2. In order to prevent contagious diseases, the Secretariat of Health has implemented the III Week of the National Vaccination Campaign in the affected localities, prioritising Hepatitis A and tetanus
Rita shuts down oil production in Gulf of Mexico
The impending strike of Hurricane Rita on the Texas coast poses as much of a risk to chemical output as it does to oil production and refining, analysts say, threatening shortages of key chemicals in coming days and weeks.
An estimated 72 percent of all U.S. production capacity for ethylene was in the strike area of Rita.
"About 72 percent of U.S. ethylene capacity is in the risk area, while 26 percent of U.S. refinery capacity is there," said an analyst .
The devastating effects of Katrina on the Gulf of Mexico also pushed natural
Hurricane Rita ploughs across the Gulf of Mexico
Hospital and nursing home patients were evacuated and as many as one million others were ordered to clear out along the Gulf Coast today as Hurricane Rita intensified into a Category 4 storm with 140mph winds that could batter Texas and bring more misery to New Orleans by the weekend.
Galveston, parts of Houston and New Orleans were under mandatory evacuation orders, one day after Rita sideswiped the Florida Keys as a Category 2 storm and caused minor damage.
Having seen what Hurricane Katrina did just three weeks ago, many people decided not to take
Oil, Gasoline Rise as Hurricane Rita Shuts Gulf of Mexico Rigs
Crude oil and gasoline climbed as Hurricane Rita threatened rigs, refineries and platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, less than a month after Hurricane Katrina struck.
Producers including BP Plc and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. evacuated staff and shut off-shore operations in the Gulf. Rita may reach the coast of Texas, the producer of a quarter of the nation's refined fuel, by Friday. The storm is expected to grow as strong as Katrina, which shut down nearly 10 percent of U.S. refining capacity when it hit last month.
``Rita is more
Rita Becomes Hurricane as It Heads for Gulf of Mexico (Update1)
Rita strengthened into a hurricane as it headed toward the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to hit the coasts of Texas and Louisiana by this weekend.
Rita is forecast to pass the lower Florida Keys by midday and head into the warm waters of the Gulf, the National Hurricane Center said. It will gain power as it moves over the warm water, and will be a so-called Category 3 storm with winds of at least 111 mph when it reaches the Texas coastline by the weekend, center meteorologist Chris Sisko
Chevron evacuating Gulf of Mexico workers before Rita
Chevron Corp. said Monday it is evacuating oil rig workers in the Gulf of Mexico before Tropical Storm Rita hits, a move which could reduce oil production in the region.
based Chevron (NYSE:CVX) told Reuters that its evacuations were a normal procedure, similar to what it did before Hurricane Katrina blew through the Gulf.
Chevron didn't say how the evacuation will affect its oil or natural gas production.
Tropical Storm Rita was heading toward the Florida Keys and several weather models projected it would enter the Gulf and become a category one hurricane.
Reuters
All Gulf of Mexico crude prod halted
Essentially all Gulf of Mexico crude oil production and 30 percent of U.S. oil refinery production was shut as Hurricane Rita approached the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
Oil prices dropped Friday afternoon as Rita was downgraded to a Category 3 at maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.
About 72 percent of natural gas production was shut in by Friday, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said.
The MMS said 99.1 percent of crude production was shut.
The storm has forced shut 15 big U.S. refineries, adding to the four that had remained shut after Hurricane Katrina
BP, Shell say Gulf of Mexico ops still suspended
BP PLC and the Royal Dutch Shell said their operations at the Gulf of Mexico remained suspended even as initial inspection showed the offshore facilities sustained little damage from Hurricane Rita.
'The (US Gulf) facilities as of Monday are still completely shut. The situation is still the same,' said a BP spokeswoman.
BP continues to check the facilities and will not allow operations to resume until it is completely certain that it is safe to do so.
'Initial assessment on Sunday via aerial overflights and small crews placed on several BP-operated deepwater
Rita strengthens to Category 3 over Gulf of Mexico
KEY WEST, Fla. Hurricane Rita's top sustained winds are up to 120 miles per hour, and forecasters say the storm is expected to reach Category Four strength sometime today.
Category Four hurricanes pack sustained winds of at least 131 miles per hour.Rita, the fifth major hurricane of the season, largely spared the Florida Keys. But it's aimed for the Gulf Coast, where people are worried.Rita's raging eye did not hit land in the Florida Keys.Thousands of relieved residents who evacuated are expected to begin returning today. Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Offshore U.S. crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was totally shut on Saturday with natural gas output also lower, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said in its daily report logging the impact of Hurricane Rita and the prior Hurricane Katrina.
MMS said the percentage of oil output shut was 100 percent, up from 99.125 percent on Friday. The normal daily oil output from Gulf of Mexico operations is 1.5 million barrels per day.
The report said 1.5 million bpd of crude oil production was shut as Saturday, in contrast to 1.486 million bpd reported shut on Friday.
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