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A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 7 OctOber 2017
US States declare emergency ahead of Tropical Storm Nate

soccer match between Alabama-Florida border.
that country and Honduras, Officials ordered the
which had been scheduled evacuation of part of
for Friday night. coastal St. Bernard Parish
In Louisiana, Gov. John east of New Orleans
Bel Edwards declared a ahead of the storm. Earlier
state of emergency and Thursday, a voluntary
mobilized 1,300 National evacuation was called in
Guard troops, with 15 the barrier island town of
headed to New Orleans Grand Isle south of New
to monitor the fragile Orleans.New Orleans
pumping system there. officials outlined steps to
With forecasts projecting bolster the city’s pump
landfall in Louisiana as and drainage system.
a Category 1 hurricane, Weaknesses in that system
Edwards urged residents were revealed during
to ready for rainfall, storm summer flash floods.
surge and severe winds The Bureau of Safety
— and to be where they and Environmental
intend to hunker down by Enforcement’s New
A man walks past homes damaged in the passing of Tropical Storm Nate, on the outskirts of San “dark on Saturday.” Orleans office said in a news
Jose, Costa Rica, Friday, Oct. 6, 2017. Nate gained force as it sped toward Mexico’s Yucatan Louisiana’s governor said release that as of midday
Peninsula Friday after drenching Central America in rain that was blamed for at least 21 deaths. Nate is forecast to move Thursday, six production
(AP Photo/Moises Castillo) quickly, rather than stall platforms, out of the
Continued from Front of those were still counted storm and said 15 people and drop tremendous 737 manned platforms
Authorities placed the as missing. She didn’t give were missing. Flooding amounts of rain on the in the Gulf, had been
whole country on alert and details on all the deaths, drove 5,000 residents into state. State officials hope evacuated. No drilling rigs
warned of flooding and but said two women and emergency shelters. that means New Orleans were evacuated, but one
landslides. a man who worked for the In Honduras, there were won’t run into problems moveable rig was taken
Nicaragua’s vice president Health Ministry were swept three dead and three with its pumps being able out of the storm’s path.
and spokeswoman, Rosario away by a flooded canal missing, according to to handle the water. The agency estimated less
Murillo, said that at least 11 in the central municipality Oscar Triminio, spokesman Edwards warned, however, than 15 percent of the
people had died in that of Juigalpa. for the country’s firefighters. against underestimating current oil production in the
country due to the storm. Costa Rica’s Judicial Damage caused by the the storm. The National Gulf of Mexico has been
Earlier Thursday she had said Investigation Organism storm prompted Costa Hurricane Center issued shut-in, which equates to
15 people had died before blamed seven deaths Rican officials to postpone a hurricane warning from 254,607 barrels of oil per
later revising to say some in that country on the a World Cup qualifying Grand Isle, Louisiana to the day.q

VP Mike Pence tours islands wrecked by Hurricane Maria

By KEN THOMAS repeated a few hours later
Associated Press Writer for residents of Puerto Rico.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Trump himself had been to
— Below him, upended Puerto Rico just days earli-
boats. Above his head, a er, but difficult logistics had
blown-off roof. kept him from the Virgin Is-
From high above and on lands.
the ground, Vice Presi- Where Pence dispensed
dent Mike Pence took in reassurances and hugs on
the devastation Friday his visit, the president had
that Hurricane Maria has delivered a more uneven
brought to the U.S. Virgin message.
Islands and Puerto Rico. Trump spoke at length in
He offered assurances that self-congratulatory tones
better days were ahead — about the strength of the
and that the federal gov- federal recovery effort and
ernment would help has- made light of how costly
ten them. Puerto Rico’s troubles were
“The devastation here is to the federal budget.
overwhelming but the resil- He compared the island’s
ience of the people of the lower death toll to the “real
U.S. Virgin Islands is even catastrophe” of Hurricane
greater,” Pence said after Vice President Mike Pence, joined by his wife Karen Pence, fourth from left, surveys hurricane Katrina in 2005, when more
visiting a Red Cross outpost damage outside Holy Cross Episcopal Church in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands on Friday, Oct. 6, than 1,800 people died.
on St. Croix where hun- 2017. The church suffered extensive damage, including large holes in the roof. Pence, for his part, said
dreds had taken shelter. (AP Photo/Kenneth Thomas) there had been “steady
“We’re going to keep the altar of a church with gap- blue tarps atop damaged from President Donald progress” on opening
help coming.” ing holes in the roof. On homes and uprooted trees Trump: “We will be with you roads and addressing
Pence, wearing short an aerial tour of the Virgin and vegetation. every day until the Virgin other challenges, but ac-
sleeves and cowboy boots, Islands, he saw upended The vice president said he Islands comes all the way knowledged “we have a
spoke to residents from the boats along the coast, came bearing a message back.” It was a message he long way to go.” q