New York City announced the closure of beaches in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island on Friday in a bid to protect beachgoers against possible big waves as hurricane Bill approaches Bermuda.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Thursday the eye of Hurricane Bill was about 695 miles southeast of Bermuda and expected to reach Canada's Atlantic Maritime Provinces by Sunday.
Hurricane Bill weakened slightly on Thursday but was expected to regain power on a northwest ocean track that will take it between Bermuda, where inhabitants prepared for high winds and heavy seas, and the U.S. East Coast.
Hurricane Bill weakened on Thursday, falling to a Category 3 storm with its winds dropping to 125 mph, but hurricane watchers said it had the potential to reach Category 4 status again.
Hurricane Bill, the first of the 2009 Atlantic season, gathered strength and grew into a dangerous Category 4 storm with sustained winds of up to 135 mph on Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Hurricane Bill headed west-northwest over the open Atlantic Tuesday on a path toward Bermuda that would likely keep it clear of the U.S. East Coast but could spell trouble for Canada's Maritime Provinces.
Oil was steady above $67 a barrel on Tuesday, after falling the previous day to its lowest level in two weeks, amid persistent worries over the pace of the global economic rebound and revival in energy demand.
Hurricane Bill was centered about 1,100 miles east of the Lesser Antilles on Monday morning and was moving West-Northwest at a speed of about 22 mph. Experts predicted that the Hurricane Bill is likely to make landfall.
Hurricane Bill gained speed and is expected to become the first hurricane of the season as it makes its way toward Bermuda later this week. Ana may dissipate today in the Caribbean according to reports from the National Hurricane Center.
Powerful tropical storm Andres churned off Mexico's Pacific coast on Monday, threatening to brush past the popular beach resort of Zihuatanejo and was expected to build into a hurricane.
The European Union confirmed Friday a proposal to allocate $154 million (€109.4 million) to France from the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) for fighting the devastation caused by Hurricane Klaus in south-west France in January.
The season for the Atlantic hurricanes lasted six months, with four storms, surpassing the ten presumed by the forecasts, each one of them receiving its own name.
Hurricane Dean is expected to cost Munich Re less than 100 million euros ($136 million), the reinsurer said on Wednesday, adding that it was sticking to its 2007 earnings forecast.
Hurricane Felix slammed into Nicaragua and Honduras on Tuesday as a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm, lashing remote coastal villages with violent winds and torrential rains.
U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas producers were monitoring powerful Hurricane Felix as it churned through the Caribbean Sea on Sunday, but none had reported reduced offshore production or evacuated workers to onshore locations.
Hurricane warnings were posted for coastal Honduras as a potentially catastrophic Hurricane Felix, a top-ranked storm with 165 mile-per-hour (270 km per hour) winds, threatened Central America on Monday.
Hurricane Dean slammed into Mexico's Caribbean coast on Tuesday, flooding streets, blowing the roofs off houses and battering resorts where tens of thousands of tourists and residents huddled in shelters.
Oil fell more than $1 on Monday after forecasts projected Hurricane Dean would skirt to the south of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that is home to half of U.S. refining capacity and pumps a third of its oil.
Prices for pure fruit juice in Japan are increasing due to strong demand for biofuel and hurricanes in the U.S., according to industry officials.
