Jamaica and Louisiana brace for Gustav

Tropical storm Gustav, which we reported Thursday was heading toward the Gulf Coast, swamped eastern Jamaica Thursday on a path to hit the Cayman Islands with winds near hurricane force. Louisiana called a state of emergency and put the National Guard on standby, hoping to avoid the chaos of Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

Gustav swirled away from the island of Hispaniola, reports the Associated Press, where it killed 23 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and closed in on Jamaica's low-lying capital, about 40 miles to the west. Forecasters said Gustav could hit Jamaica as a hurricane and perhaps hit Grand Cayman tonight.

Read more about tropical storm Gustav here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: A worker sweeps Havana's seafront, known as the Malecon, after rains today. Tropical storm Gustav built toward renewed hurricane force today as it drove toward Jamaica, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Credit: Javier Galeano / Associated Press

Gulf and New Orleans brace for Tropical Storm Gustav

                               

The Associated Press is reporting that workers were being moved off oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and that New Orleans was planning for a possible evacuation as Tropical Storm Gustav poured more rain onto Hispaniola island, where 23 people have already died.

Forecasters warned that the storm could plow into the Gulf Coast as a major hurricane by Labor Day, anywhere from South Texas to the Florida Panhandle.

To read more about Gustav's progress, click here.

Scrap tires unite U.S.-Mexico border states

In a rare show of unity between the 10 states on the Mexico-United States border, all of them yesterday signed the Tire Initiative Letter of Understanding, which includes "tire pile prevention measures" and tries to eliminate the public health risks, according to Greenspace, the Los Angeles Times environmental news blog.

"Often disease-carrying pests such as rodents inhabit these tire piles. After a rainfall, mosquitoes may breed in the stagnant water collected inside tires and carry deadly diseases such as encephalitis, West Nile virus, dengue fever and malaria.

"Scrap-tire fires are difficult to extinguish and can burn for weeks or months releasing thick, black smoke that can contaminate the soil with oily residue, generate significant liquid waste and contaminate ground and surface water.

"So far 4 million scrap tires have been removed from the U.S.-Mexico border to decrease the risk of fires and disease that they pose to border residents, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."

Click here to read the full post on Greenspace.

Climate change likely to trigger more illegal immigration, report says

Illegal immigration, ethnic violence, humanitarian crises and national security issues will worsen during the next two decades because of global warming, according to U.S. intelligence agencies.

"Global warming is likely to have a series of destabilizing effects around the world, causing humanitarian crises as well as surges in ethnic violence and illegal immigration, according to an assessment released Wednesday by U.S. intelligence agencies", writes The Times' Greg Miller.

But Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, called the report "a pathetic use of intelligence resources".

Read on...

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Tropical Storm Alma pounds Nicaragua

Tropical Storm Alma slammed into northwestern Nicaragua on Thursday, forcing evacuations and causing flooding along the coast, reports the Associated Press.

The Miami Herald called Alma the "first menacing storm of the tropical Pacific season."

"The fast-growing storm took forecasters and much of Central America by surprise. Forecasters warned that Alma could dump as much as 20 inches of rain in some places. The storm was expected to continue on a northern path, bringing its effects to parts of Honduras and El Salvador."

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

 

Colorado River flowing into Mexico is drying up

The increasingly meager flow of the Colorado River into northern Mexico imperils the Cucapa Indians and the millions of others who depend on it, writes Frank Clifford.

"As U.S. scientists warn of a semi-permanent drought along the Colorado River Delta by midcentury, Mexico today offers a glimpse of what dry times can be like. Rationing is in effect in some areas. Farmers have abandoned crops they can no longer irrigate. Experts fear that the desert will reclaim some of the region's most fertile land."

Read on.....