Gustav stalls offshore in Haiti after killing 23

By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer 8 minutes ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Gustav stalled offshore Wednesday and poured more misery onto Haiti after landslides and flooding killed 23 people. Oil workers began leaving their rigs and New Orleans drew up evacuation plans as forecasters warned the storm could plow into the U.S. Gulf coast as a major hurricane.

Gustav weakened to a tropical storm over Haiti, but was expected to become a hurricane again as early as Thursday over the warm Caribbean waters between Cuba and Jamaica. Its expected track pointed directly at the Cayman Islands, an offshore banking center where residents boarded up homes and stocked up on emergency supplies.

"We know it‘s going to head into the Gulf. After that, we‘re not sure," said meteorologist Rebecca Waddington at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "For that reason, everyone in the Gulf needs to be monitoring the storm."

Oil prices spiked more than US$2 to close above US$118 a barrel, rising for a third day on fears that Gustav — like Katrina and Rita — could damage the Gulf Coast energy infrastructure, home to 15 percent of the nation‘s natural gas output, a quarter of its oil production and nearly half its refining capacity.

Any damage to the oil infrastructure could send U.S. pump prices spiking, possibly before the busy Labor Day weekend.

Gustav is particularly worrisome because there are few surrounding wind currents capable of shearing off the top of the storm and diminishing its power, the hurricane center said. "Combined with the deep warm waters, rapid intensification could occur in a couple of days."

A hurricane warning was in effect for parts of Cuba, including the U.S. military base at Guantanamo, where base spokesman Bruce Lloyd predicted "a really wet night."

The Cayman Islands ordered citizens to secure loose materials in their yards to prevent them from becoming missiles in high winds, and told them to stock up on food, medicine and fuel for generators.

U.N. peacekeepers said they evacuated thousands of Haitians by boat and truck, and were preparing to pull people out of the western town of Jeremie even as rain continued to fall. Civil protection director Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste said a young girl swept off a bridge by flood waters was among 15 people killed in Haiti.

Feliz, 32, was found hugging the body of her smallest child, rescue officials said. A neighbor was also killed.

"I don‘t know how I can live now, because none of my family is left," said Marino Borges, Feliz‘s husband and father of several of her children.



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