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Hurricane Dean Forecast to Reach Lesser Antilles Islands Today

Hurricane Dean Forecast to Reach Lesser Antilles Islands Today By Kelly Riddell and James Temple
Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Dean is poised to descend on the Caribbean's Lesser Antilles group of islands today, bringing sustained winds of almost 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers an hour).
Preparations to protect life and property should be ``very near'' completion, the National Hurricane Center warned in an advisory at 10 p.m. New York time yesterday.
Dean's center was 160 miles east-southeast of the French island of Martinique and about 80 miles northeast of Barbados at that time. It was heading west at almost 25 miles (41 kilometers) per hour. Sustained winds were almost 100 miles per hour, making it a Category 2 hurricane.
``Dean is on path to do some damage in the Caribbean,'' Hugh Cobb, a hurricane specialist at the center in Miami, said yesterday in a telephone interview. ``It looks like it could become a Category 4 hurricane.''
A Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale has sustained winds between 131 miles per hour and 155 miles per hour. The center predicted Dean strengthening today.
Hurricane warnings, meaning such conditions are likely within the next day, remain in effect for Dominica, St. Lucia, Martinique and Guadeloupe and its dependencies.
``Most businesses have closed and sent their staff home,'' Chris Joseph, chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce for the island of Dominica, said in an interview. ``This town is pretty much a ghost town.''
Storm Warnings
A tropical storm warning has been issued for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Montserrat, Saba, St. Eustatius, Antigua, St. Maarten, Anguilla, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada and its dependencies.
A tropical storm watch, meaning conditions are likely within the next 36 hours, is in effect for the south coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to the Haiti border.
The Hovensa refinery, a 495,000-barrel-a-day plant on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, continues to operate normally and no shutdown is planned, spokesman Alex Moorhead said yesterday in a telephone interview. The refinery is a joint venture of Hess Corp. and Petroleos de Venezuela SA.
Delta Air Lines is offering customers booked on flights between Aug. 16 and 22 to or from selected cities in the Caribbean a one-time itinerary change without penalty, according to a statement issued by the company yesterday.
All Carnival Corp. cruise ships set to steam into the Caribbean through Aug. 19 remain on schedule with a few itinerary modifications that will steer ships away from the eastern Caribbean islands, a spokeswoman said in an interview.
Cobb compared Dean's track to that of Hurricane Ivan, which ravaged Grenada in 2004, killing 28 people, before moving through Jamaica and Grand Cayman and into the Gulf of Mexico.
Oil, Gas Production
Ivan struck Florida and came aground in Orange Beach, Alabama. U.S. insured damages were estimated at $7.1 billion. The storm also disrupted oil production in the Gulf.
``Dean could very easily be a threat to the U.S. Gulf Coast by the middle of next week,'' according to a report from the ReAdvisory group of reinsurance intermediary R.K. Carvill International Holdings Ltd.
``After entering the Caribbean Sea, we expect Dean will quickly intensify to a major hurricane due to very warm water, low wind shear and moist air,'' the report said.
The Gulf of Mexico accounts for about 27 percent of U.S. oil production and 15 percent of gas output, according to U.S. Energy Department figures. Fuel prices rose to a record in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on platforms, pipelines and refineries on the Mississippi and Louisiana coasts.
Tropical Storm Erin weakened to a depression yesterday, drenching the Houston and Galveston areas in Texas before continuing to carry heavy rains toward the western part of the state, the National Weather Service said.
Flood watches and warnings remain in effect for much of south-central Texas. The storm's remnants are moving west- northwest at about 10 miles per hour and are expected to reach West Texas today, the weather service said at 11 p.m. New York time yesterday.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kelly Riddell in Washington at kriddell1@bloomberg.net ; James Temple in San Francisco at jtemple@bloomberg.net . Last Updated: August 17, 2007 00:53 EDT

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