Word: rita
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...ready for a chilly winter at home. As the increasingly high winds of Hurricane Rita tore through the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday, petroleum prices soared in expectation that America's already battered oil sector could take another direct hit. The rise was tempered by an offer by OPEC to release an extra 2 million barrels a day on world markets, which helped prices to ease slightly on the New York Mercantile Exchange-where the cost of a barrel of light crude had risen by more than $4 Monday, the biggest one-day increase in history...
...available, there may be no way to transform it into gasoline and other products like home heating fuel. The result: utilities in many parts of the U.S. are warning customers that winter heating costs could be up to 70% higher than last year's levels. In the event Rita hits Texas, the largest oil refiner in the U.S., disruption could be serious. That state alone has 26 refineries, largely along the coast, with a capacity of roughly 4.6 million barrels a day, or somewhat more than one quarter of the U.S. total...
...miles up U.S. 1 to the mainland, which means that in case of hurricane, residents have to decide to get out long before the storm hits. Despite a mandatory evacuation order, about half the city's 26,000 residents decided ride out Hurricane Rita, which hit the area Tuesday morning. That could be a mistake, says Billy Wagner, senior director for emergency management for the Florida Keys. "The people in the Lower Keys, if they don't get out of there, they can lose their lives...
...entire Gulf region, fresh from the devastation of Katrina, is concerned about Rita, which became a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday morning, with winds up to 95 mph, and could intensify into a Category 3 as it moves across the Gulf. The storm is expected to travel westward toward Texas, and authorities in Galveston have already called for a voluntary evacuation of the city beginning Tuesday, several days before Rita is expected...
...ground-level condo. During Hurricane Katrina, he simply rolled shut his hurricane shutters and invited friends over for drinks and a game of rummy. "It was just like living in a cave," he says of the snugness provided by the shutters. "I didn't hear anything." As soon as Rita blows over he plans to hit the Key Biscayne golf course to collect golf balls that shake free of the palm trees during the storm. "The golf course after a hurricane comes alive," Brewster says. "All the birds, all the iguanas come out. It's magical...