Tropical Storm Alex, the name of the first storm of the 2010 hurricane season could cause damage to BP's (NYSE:BP) oil rig and well. It also has the potential to move the oil slick closer to the Florida Panhandle beaches.
Senator Bill Nelson of Florida stated, "the greatest nightmare with this storm approaching is that it takes this oil on the surface of the Gulf and blows it over the barrier islands into the bays and the estuaries. And that is where you really get the enormous destruction, because it's just very difficult to clean up those pristine bays."
Alex's current course is heading West-Northwest and has sustained winds of 40 miles per hour and is about 250 miles from Chetumal, Mexico. As of now it does not appear that Alex path will take it directly over the massive oil slick, but as with any storm there is no predictability and their paths can change from hour to hour.
Meteorologist Karen Magginis says the "preferred scenario" for Alex to head to Northern Florida. The reasoning for this is because the oil has been slowly rotating counterclockwise. If Alex goes towards the East of it, it would send the oil out to sea. If the storms path goes directly towards the Gulf and Louisiana, it will cause the oil slick to be pushed towards Florida.
Magginis said, "we've never seen an oil spill that encompassed the Gulf like this before, end up do close to shore. We've never been in this situation before."
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