Whether we know who he is or not, Banksy is still out there making guerilla street art. And his latest paintings have shown up in New Orleans, on the eve the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall--and as Tropical Storm Gustav is taking aim at the gulf shore.
All of a sudden, another tropical storm is bearing down on the Caribbean. This time it's Hurricane Gustav, which made landfall in Haiti today and is already threatening Cuba and the rest of the Northern Caribbean.
Airlines are watching this one not just because of the potential damage it could wreak upon schedules but because of the carnage the storm is already creating in the global oil markets. With petroleum platforms in the Gulf of Mexico potentially in harm's way, airline stocks took a tumble today.
Tropical Storm Fay may be dealing out sub-hurricane-force winds, but she's pounding the hell out of Key West all the same. And forecasters say there's a good possibility that the storm will be even stronger by the time it hits Naples and the rest of Southwest Florida sometime soon.
Airports in the Keys are currently closed, and multiple airlines are waiving ticket change fees for passengers headed to the region. Meanwhile the National Hurricane Center suggests that:
Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion.
Though it was threatening Bermuda, it now looks like the first Atlantic hurricane of 2008, Bertha, will spin off into the open ocean without major incident. That's certainly good news for now, but some meteorologists think the formation and track of this storm are bad omens for the season as a whole.
Destinations that depend on visitors year-round are already offering up storm guarantees to keep the tourists coming despite the threat. Topping the list? You guessed it: Bermuda.
While parts of the Caribbean reels in hurricane-wrought destruction, tropical resorts' PR teams are plastering on a smile and saying, "Come on down folks, everything's fine." Following Hurricanes Dean and Felix, they're jumping back in the tourism game. And travelers who follow suit are discovering loads of incentives to book now.
Just weeks after weathering Hurricane Dean's category 4 wrath, hotels in Jamaica are offering all kinds of deals from buy-one-get-one packages to slashed prices. To stave off lingering fears, many companies guarantee refunds in the event of another emergency.
Still, some places suffered enough damage to require significant reconstruction. According to The New York Times:
Some areas are still recovering from the storm. Costa Maya, the up-and-coming cruise port on the Yucatán Peninsula near the border of Belize, took a beating and is expected to be closed for at least six months. Some of the thatched-roof cabanas along the Maya Riviera were heavily damaged.
And that's just the fallout from Dean. Hurricane Felix took a separate toll on Central America.
Though the winds of Felix have dropped from a high of 165 mph down to 30, the tropical depression remains dangerous for tourists and locals alike. Felix marched over Nicaragua after making landfall near Puerto Cabezas, in the northeast.
Guidebook author Joshua Berman has lots of contacts in the area and tells us:
Just got an email from Bluefields which seems to have been spared the brunt of the storm, but farther north of there is a different story...I was in Nicaragua during Hurricane Mitch and am definitely more worried about the amount of rain than the winds.
Authorities in Nicaragua are still sorting out the damage as Felix has started pounding Honduras with rain. Flickr user Jose Conrado has some ominous shots of the approaching weather and queues at gas stations as people prepare for the storm's arrival. Felix may no longer be a hurricane, but trouble is still brewing for Central America.
Mexico wasn't the only place hit by severe summer weather this week. Two storm systems collided in the Midwest sending people all of the way from Colorado to Ohio ducking for cover: Twenty-five people were killed, millions of dollars in roadways were washed out and homes collapsed due to high winds and flooding. Better double check those driving and lodging plans if you're hoping to squeeze in a Matt Gross-style road trip this summer.
In Wisconsin heinous storms resulted in more than $30 million in weather-related damages. Lori Getter the state's Emergency Management spokeswoman told CNN.com:
Mother Nature has been really cruel to our state the last four or five days. For many of these people, they've lost everything.
More rainfall led to heavy flooding after high winds whipped through towns in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Gov. Jim Doyle declared a state of emergency:
It's really awe-inspiring to see how much damage has been done and what this water has done.
The severe weather also hit Oklahoma, parts of Texas, Nebraska and Iowa: proof yet again that some of the biggest storms aren't always tropical.
After gaining plenty of strength last night, Hurricane Dean made landfall on Mexico's Yucatan coast Tuesday morning as a beast of a Category 5 storm. Dean's eye came ashore around 4:30 a.m. just north of Chetumal, the capital of Quintana Roo. Winds were over 165 mph, and Dean, which is reportedly a storm the size of Texas, will affect the entire Yucatan peninsula.
Tourists, who mostly inhabit Cancun and Cozumel, which are well north of the eye, were frantically trying to get seats on the last planes out before the storm last night. Reportedly. Of the 20,000 tourists in Quintana Roo, about 13,000 had been evacuated.
The above photo of a Cancun beach near the Oasis Cancun Hotel was taken yesterday and shows a definite calm before the storm. Tourists seem to be trying to milk every last second of beach time even as the hotel they are staying in boards up the resort windows and a Cat 5 storm lurks less than 24 hours away.
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