indeed churning up this oil. northeast mexico into texas, this is a dynamic this storm really picking up, environment. we are doing our job every day. much of the gulf of mexico. outer bands, from anywhere, right now this is a war and we texas through louisiana, and, are on the front doorstep of that war. you have got to evolve with the even seeing the counterclockwise circulation moving as far as the dynamics and the changing northeast gulf of mexico, into evolutions happening out there. florida. you can see the radar, we could see heavy rain, tend to even martha: rick, what s happening ten to 20 inches, isolated, where you are? across portions of texas, into reporter: we are expect mexico, and, then, storm surge something board a coast guard of 3 to 5 feet, but, of course, plane to get an aerial view of a lot of folks are concerned the beaches, the impact on these about what is going to happen with the oil spill. there is our hurricane, right plumes on the coastal area. if you
reporter: tropical storm am exist nearing the mexico-texas border. forecasters say the storm could reach hurricane strength in the gulf of mexico some time today. winds from the outer bands could slow or even stop the oil cleanup efforts. rick leventhal is live in grand isle, louisiana with the latest on this. reporter: we are feeling pretty strong winds here on grand island. they are hurting the containment and cleanup operations out in the gulf. bp announcing it has suspended plans to move new equipment in place out at the spill site that could double part of the oil that is company taourd every day in part because of the rough weather. skimmer ships are being pulled back to shore and many other vessels as well helping with the cleanup. we want to show you video we shot this morning on a small fishing boat that we went out on despite the small kaft warning and we could see globs of order in the sheen, the colored she, n
back to you. thanks, maria. as far as this storm, of course you just heard it s heading west, it s going away from the spill site, but maria said it, kicking up wind and waves and that s forced bp and the coast guard to send skimming boats back to shore until the storm passes. vice president biden has been visiting residents and business owners along the gulf today as the economic impact continues to grow. bp says it s paid a $69 million bill from the government for oil spill recovery efforts. the company also says it s working on a backup plan in case the relief wells are not successful. count former president bill clinton among those who say we should consider blowing up the well. he s not talking about using a nuclear weapon, but rather a conventional bomb that would cover the well with piles of rock and debris. and we re keeping a close eye on the markets right now, we have seen the dow drop below the
we are awaiting an opening statement from supreme court nominee elena kagan in today s supreme court nominee hearing. word just in that dick cheney, the former vice president has left the hospital, his office says that he has markedly improved since being admitted friday with a fluid buildup related to his heart disease. i believe those are file pictures. we ll check on that. in the gulf, bp continues oil cleanup operations hooking up a third vessel. alex is not expected to hit the spill site itself when it makes landfall later this week. today hurricane watches have been issued for texas and mexico. the new u.s. commander in afghanistan, general david petraeus gets ready to defend the u.s. war plan. tomorrow the general testifies before a senate armed services committee. and flags are at half staff
eastern. 3:00 p.m. on the west coast. cnn will bring that to you live. all right meantime we re still tracking the remnants of what was tropical storm alex. the storm has been downgraded do a tropical depression, as it crosses the yucatan peninsula. forecasters say it should steer clear of the gulf oil spill. bp says the storm has not forced any evacuations at the spill site. although bp and shell are evacuating nonessential personnel from oil plat forms in the southern gulf. let s check in with jackie jaris in the weather center. what is this thing doing now? since it doesn t have a name now, i ll call it a thing. we can still call it alex. what s alex doing? it s weakened quite a bit fredricka. so it is a tropical depression, which means the winds are calmer. maximum sustained 35 miles per hour so that s the minimum