SIDE SALAD - Everything crunchy is good.

LET'S DO THE RECTAL PUCKER AGAIN

Hmmm. Why does this seem so familiar?

Oh, that's right. Because it is.

MORANT BAY, Jamaica - Hurricane Dennis swept away a bridge and peeled tin roofs off homes in Haiti, killing at least five people as it strengthened to a Category 4 storm and headed straight for Cuba. Forecasters said it could reach the U.S. Gulf Coast by Sunday.

The Hurricane Center in Miami said the eye was swirling over water about 100 miles south of the Cuban coast and moving to the northwest at about 15 miles an hour.

The hurricane's winds neared 135 mph as it sideswiped Jamaica on Thursday. Forecasters predicted the storm could hit the United States anywhere from Florida to Louisiana by Sunday or Monday, raising fears that oil production in the Gulf of Mexico would be disrupted by the fourth storm in as many weeks.

The hurricane center's lead forecaster, Martin Nelson, said it was the first time the Atlantic hurricane season had four named storms this early since record-keeping began in 1851. The season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

Last year, three catastrophic hurricanes — Frances, Ivan and Jeanne — tore through the Caribbean with a collective ferocity not seen in years, causing hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in damage.

I had a friend named Dennis. He cost me thousands of dollars. I don't think this particular Dennis will bring any more happiness to my life.

JD had a great rant about Dennis and his possible ramifications on the price of oil. She's a bit of an alarmist, God love her. She's also rarely wrong:

Those of you who took my hint of a few weeks back (hi Ed!) to watch Oil Storm will now be recognizing the above scenario, because it's precisely how the movie started, with a tropical system in the Gulf causing enough damage to shut down the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port for 18 months.

And, if you're Matthew Simmons (bigshot oil industry analyst, and sometime energy adviser to Messrs. Bush and Cheney), you're thinking this:

Oil prices could rocket to $100 within six months, plunging the world into an unprecedented fuel crisis, controversial Texan oil analyst Matt Simmons has warned.

After crude surged through $60 a barrel last week, nervous investors were pinning their hopes on a build-up in US oil-stocks to depress prices in the coming months.

But Simmons believes surging demand will keep prices bubbling well above $50. 'We could be at $100 by this winter. We have the biggest risk we have ever had of demand exceeding supply. We are now just about to face up to the biggest crisis we have ever had,' he said.

Aren't you glad I came up from the bunker long enough to share this with you?

In other happier news:

NOAA NAMES FLORIDA'S INDIAN HARBOUR BEACH THE NATION'S FIRST TSUNAMI-READY COMMUNITY ON THE EAST COAST

Officials from the NOAA National Weather Service praised central Florida's Indian Harbour Beach for completing a set of rigorous criteria necessary to earn the distinction of being declared the first TsunamiReady community along the nation's East Coast.

"Indian Harbour Beach should take great pride in having gone the extra mile to provide its citizens with the measure of protection TsunamiReady affords," said Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, USAF (Ret.), director of the NOAA National Weather Service.

"We are continuing to expand the nation's tsunami detection, assessment and warning system, but a timely warning is meaningless if our citizens don't know how to respond to it. The TsunamiReady program is designed to help ensure that residents understand what actions to take."

While no community can be tsunami proof, Indian Harbour Beach now has the means to minimize the threat to the public," said Bill Proenza, director of the NOAA National Weather Service's southern region. "A tsunami may not strike for many generations, but then again, it could happen tomorrow.

Well, they've got that going for them, which is nice.

Now there's only 8,000 more coastal communities to go.

Posted by Jeff at July 8, 2005 07:48 AM | TrackBack