Omar Becomes Hurricane on Path Toward Virgin Islands

By Alex Morales

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Omar strengthened from a tropical storm over the Caribbean south of Puerto Rico and is forecast to hit the Virgin Islands early tomorrow.

Hurricane warnings were in place in the U.S. Virgin Islands, site of the Hovensa oil refinery; the British Virgin Islands; Vieques; Culebra; and islands including St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. A hurricane warning means sustained winds of at least 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour are expected within a day.

Omar packed 80 mph winds and was 265 miles south-southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the center said in an advisory on its Web site shortly before 8 a.m. Miami time. The system was moving northeast at 7 mph.

``Additional strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours,'' the center said. ``On the forecast track Omar would move through the northern Leeward Islands tonight and early Thursday.''



Two days ago, Omar caused power cuts in eastern Venezuela and halted activity at Jose, one of the country's main oil terminals, the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. While the storm is affecting shipping to the Hovensa refinery, it isn't expected to hamper operations, Alex Moorhead, spokesman for the facility, said yesterday.

``We do not anticipate the need to shut down the refinery'' due to the storm, he said. The Coast Guard shut the harbor to incoming traffic yesterday, he said.

Mudslides, Floods

The refinery exported 338,000 barrels a day of refined products to the U.S. in July, according to the latest U.S. Energy Department records. The refinery is jointly owned by Hess Corp. of New York and Petroleos de Venezuela.

Tropical-storm warnings, indicating winds of 39 mph to 73 mph are expected within a day, were in place in Puerto Rico, Antigua, Barbuda and Montserrat.

Omar may bring as much as 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain to the Netherlands Antilles and 20 inches to Puerto Rico and the northern Leeward Islands, the center said. Those rains could produce ``life-threatening'' flash floods and mudslides, it said.

To the west, a tropical depression was moving along the coast of Honduras and may bring up to 15 inches of rain, threatening lethal flooding and landslides there and in Nicaragua, Belize, Guatemala and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the center said in a separate advisory. The system was 95 miles east of Limon, Honduras, and moving west at 3 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 30 mph.

``Gradual strengthening is forecast and the depression could become a tropical storm later today or tonight,'' the U.S. agency said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net