Thousands of the 5,000 rig platforms in the Gulf are located in the predicted path of the storm, and many of them are aging. In previous storms, it has been the older rigs that most often end up wrecked.
Unfortunately, it has been recently learned that a 40 foot air gap is woefully inadequate for some storms. One of the recent storms had 90 foot waves -- rendering the 40 foot air grap unsafe.
Back in the 1970s, I always thought the 40 foot air gap was excessive.
The only good news is that they can shut in these wells on the Gulf of Mexico floor, and they have to.
But some places that stage oil field workers are going to get wiped out -- such as Venice (LA). That is going to make recovery tougher...
Sunday is a good time to pray, and we need lots of prayers right now...
Excellent point about the tornados. I moved from Gloucester, Massachusetts (home of "The Perfect Storm" no less) to Central Louisiana in 2003. I distinctly remember being glued to The Weather Channel in 2002 watching about 14 tornados spin off from Hurricane Lili in the Alexandria area, and being worried sick about my family living here. I live in a sturdy apartment building in a neighborhood with good drainage, but I certainly am fearful for the people who live in trailers, most of whom carry no homeowners insurance.
They had an awful tornado here a while back in the little town of Olla, LA which was exactly that type of scenario. An elderly woman was killed, many uninsured trailers were destroyed leaving families homeless, and the local high school was damaged to the point where the kids had to move to an old factory building for the remainder of the school year. It made me so furious that FEMA refused to release a single dime to Olla. I remember reading stories side-by-side about FEMA funds being misappropriated in Florida (if I recall correctly, $27 million had to be repaid by people who shouldn't have received the money) at the same time that country music entertainers were performing benefit concerts at places like Paragon Casino Resort to help raise money for Olla. The town still needs plenty of aid to rebuild itself long after the headlines have faded away.
Let's hope the tornados don't cause as much destruction this time around.