By Ryan Flinn and Aaron Sheldrick
Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Fay approached Florida's southwest coast, after killing dozens as it passed through the Caribbean, and may strengthen to a hurricane before making landfall near the town of Naples.
The storm's winds may increase to 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour before it reaches the coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory on its Web site yesterday. The eye of Fay was 45 miles south of Naples at 2 a.m. today and was moving north at 7 mph.
``Fay could still approach hurricane strength prior to landfall,'' the center said in its advisory.
Florida Governor Charlie Cristdeclared a state of emergency, as the hurricane center warned of tornadoes across parts of Florida today. About 10.8 million people may be affected by the storm, based on U.S. Census Bureau figures.
The storm is expected to dump as much as 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) of rain over the Florida Keys and the central and southern Florida peninsula, according to the Hurricane Center. A storm surge of as high as 5 feet (1.5 meters) is possible over Florida's low-lying southwestern coast.
Fay's maximum sustained winds were about 60 miles per hour, the center said in the last advisory. A storm becomes a hurricane once sustained winds reach 74 mph.
Death Toll
The storm claimed at least 40 lives in the Caribbean, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. In Haiti, a truck carrying about 60 people fell into a swollen river, with half feared drowned, AFP said, citing civil protection officials.
Fay killed four people in the Dominican Republic, the country's Emergency Operations Center said on its Web site.
The storm's track will spare most of the oil and natural gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, which is home to about a fifth of U.S. oil production, said Jim Rouiller, a senior energy meteorologist with Planalytics Inc. in Wayne, Pennsylvania.
``It looks like minimal type of risk to the rigs,'' Rouiller said by telephone yesterday. ``They have dodged a bullet with this one.''
Crude oil for September delivery fell as much as $1.11, or 1 percent, to $111.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $112.07 at 1:19 p.m. Singapore time today.
Orange juice prices rose to the highest this month. Florida is the world's second-largest orange grower.
Orange-juice futures for November delivery rose 2.3 percent to $1.0865 a pound on ICE Futures U.S., the former New York Board of Trade. Fay probably won't threaten citrus crops because it will weaken once it gets over land, Rouiller said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ryan Flinn in San Francisco at rflinn@bloomberg.net; Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at asheldrick@bloomberg.net.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment