https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/weather/laura-is-close-to-becoming-a-category-5-storm-hurricane-update/ar-BB18oKP0With winds of 150 miles (241 kilometers) per hour, Laura is just 7 mph short of the most powerful storm category possible, and it’s matching the previous record breaker Lost Island Hurricane of 1856. Some additional strengthening is possible tonight before Laura reaches the northwest U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast overnight, the National Hurricane Center said. It’s coming with more power than Hurricane Harvey had when it made landfall in Texas in 2017.
The stretch of coastline that will feel
Laura’s impact accounts for about a quarter of U.S. oil refining capacity and half of North America’s production of ethylene, a key plastic raw material, according to Independent Commodity Intelligence Services, not to mention newly built liquefied natural gas export terminals. The rapid growth of petrochemical facilities over the past decade, fueled by the U.S. shale boom, has raised the potential for fatalities, as well as vast financial and environmental damage.
The storm could cause as much as $25 billion in damage and economic losses, Watson said. The destruction to refineries could cost $5 billion alone.
One major concern is that violent wind and storm surge could inundate Superfund sites, dislodging contaminated soil and spreading toxic deposits throughout the nearby communities.
About 64 crude oil and refined product tankers are in the western U.S. Gulf waiting on Hurricane Laura to pass, according to ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.