Hurricane Isaac Threatens Gulf Coast

After sweeping through the Caribbean leaving a trail of death and destruction in Haiti and other islands, Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to grow to a Category 2 hurricane or beyond by the time it hits the Gulf of Mexico coast midweek.

The storm threatens to interrupt most offshore U.S. oil production in the Gulf and hurricane warnings have been issued for the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. Offshore oil and gas rigs have been evacuated.

The Weather Channel’s hurricane specialist, Brian Norcross, wrote this Monday morning:

Isaac’s extremely large circulation is one of the factors that should make it intensify relatively slowly, and a track that misses the high heat-content pools in the Gulf should help in that direction as well. … [T]hat same large circulation will move a lot more water toward the coast than an average hurricane. The entire Hurricane Warning area—from Louisiana to the western Panhandle—is extremely vulnerable to storm surge flooding. The NHC is forecasting 6 to 12 feet of water above the ground in spots along that stretch of coast. …In fact, that size and slow forward speed will make this a hurricane experience like none in memory, if it comes together as forecast.

South Florida was inundated by heavy rain accompanying strong winds on Sunday, with hundreds of flights in and out of Miami and other cities being cancelled. A state of emergency was declared by Louisiana’s governor, Bobby Jindal, who said that a number of areas outside New Orleans’s new flood defense system would likely be evacuated by Monday. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant also declared a state of emergency Sunday, with evacuations expected in that state.

Reuters reports:

Forecasters are predicting a more westward track that could bring Isaac over the heart of the U.S. offshore oil patch, which produces about 23 percent of U.S. oil output and 7 percent of its natural gas output.Meteorologists at Weather Insight, an arm of Thomson Reuters, predict the storm will spur short-term shutdowns of 85 percent of the U.S. offshore oil production capacity and 68 percent of the natural gas output.Once ashore, the storm could wreak havoc on low-lying fuel refineries along the Gulf Coast that account for about 40 percent of U.S. refining capacity.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center anticipates the storm will hit the Gulf coast somewhere between Florida and Louisiana on or close to the seventh anniversary of the infamous Hurricane Katrina, which decimated New Orleans and killed more than 1,800 people.

Katrina cost the U.S. billions of dollars, and Isaac has the potential to cause great economic damage also.

We can expect such curses on America to continue—they are a sign of the times. Read Why ‘Natural’ Disasters? and The United States and Britain in Prophecy to learn how to discern the signs that Christ said indicate we are living in the very last days before His return.