Hurricane Omar Gains Strength and Nears Puerto Rico
Date: 16-Oct-08
Country: PUERTO RICO
Author: John Marino
The 15th tropical cyclone of a busy Atlantic hurricane season formed north of the Dutch island of Curacao on Tuesday, briefly preventing Venezuela from loading tankers with crude oil and knocking out power at the OPEC nation's 200,000 barrel-per-day Puerto La Cruz refinery.
The US National Hurricane Center predicted Omar would grow into a Category 2 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity before reaching the Virgin Islands and the northern Leeward Islands over the next day or so.
"It also isn't out of the question that Omar could achieve major hurricane status just before the cyclone reaches the northern Leeward islands," the Miami-based center said. Major hurricanes are those that rank Category 3 and higher and are considered the most dangerous.
In the US territory of Puerto Rico, residents flocked to supermarkets to stock up on drinking water, canned goods and other supplies.
San Juan resident Gladys Rivera, 40, hit the gas station early on Wednesday. "I did not want to be stuck at the end of the line this afternoon," she said.
Local National Weather Service director Israel Matos said there were fears the storm would affect the same areas hardest hit by heavy rains from a tropical disturbance three weeks ago, when 30 inches (76 cm) of rain caused severe flooding.
"The ground is saturated, which increases the possibility of flooding and mudslides," he said.
On the island of Vieques, which was smacked by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and Hurricane Georges in 1998, residents rushed to board up houses and fill their cars with gasoline.
By 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), Omar was located around 235 miles (380 km) southwest of St. Croix and the same distance south-southwest of San Juan.
It was moving to the northeast at 9 miles per hour (15 km per hour) and had top sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph).
The storm brought heavy rains to the Netherlands Antilles islands, and parts of Venezuela and Colombia, and could douse Puerto Rico and the northern Leeward Islands with up to 20 inches (51 cm) of rain, the hurricane center said.
Hurricane warnings or alerts were posted for Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin Islands and other islands including Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Martin and St. Barthelemy.
On Curacao, trees and lampposts were knocked down and power was out in some areas. Residents reported seeing waves up to 16 feet (5 metres) high.
STORM OFF HONDURAS
Another weather disturbance, a tropical depression off Honduras, had not become better organized but could still strengthen into Tropical Storm Paloma, the 16th of the season, before coming ashore in Central America, forecasters said.
At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), the depression was 75 miles (120 km) east of Limon, Honduras. It did not present a threat to the US mainland or Gulf of Mexico oil fields.
The 2008 hurricane season, which officially ends on Nov. 30, has been active. An average season spawns 10 storms, of which six grow into hurricanes.
This year, Hurricane Gustav slammed ashore near New Orleans, the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Ike hit Houston. Both threatened oil rigs off the US Gulf Coast, which supply a quarter of US domestic oil.
In Haiti, more than 800 people were killed in flooding caused by Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike, while Cuba suffered US$5 billion in damage after being raked by Gustav and Ike.
(Additional reporting by Tom Brown in Miami and Irasi Jimenez in Willemstad, Curacao, Writing by Michael Christie, Editing by Jim Loney)
