Hurricane Bill Havoc

8:29 PM Fri 21 Aug 2009 GMT

'Hurricane Bill from a NASA satellite' .

Coast Guard Stations along the east coast of the USA are warning all mariners of the bad weather associated with the impending arrival of Hurricane Bill, an Atlantic rower has called off his attempt, and the Clintons and Obamas, along with many other Americans, have had their vacation plans marred.

Among such warnings, Coast Guard Station Merrimack River is asking mariners to exercise caution while transiting the mouth of the Merrimack River on the New England coast.

"Shallow waters and strong currents, combined with the size of the swells that are predicted, will make the breaking bar at the mouth of the Merrimack, a place of concern for mariners transiting the area this weekend," said Petty Officer 1st Class Adam Murray.

New York beaches have been closed, and Exxon Mobil is evacuating all 200 workers from its Sable gas platform off the Canadian east coast

A British rower ended his solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean yesterday as the strengthening hurricane reached Category 4 status heading for the North Atlantic with winds of more than 200 kilometres per hour.

Peter Bray, a former British commando, was attempting to set a world record for rowing the Atlantic, setting out from St. John's, N. L., 43 days ago for the Scilly Isles, off the southwest tip of Britain.

However, organizers for Mr. Bray said yesterday he was encountering six-metre waves and high winds 1,900 kilometres into the 2,800 kilo-metre journey and with hurricane Bill heading his way was picked up by a rescue craft.

'He had been on anchor just taking a bashing,' said project manager Jim Rowlands, 'so in the interest of safety we thought the best thing to do was to call it off.'

Bill, the first named hurricane of the season, is on track to reach Atlantic Canada by early next week.

The U. S. National Hurricane Centre says by the time it reaches the coast it will likely be downgraded to a Category 1 storm, still packing winds of about 140 km/h.

Hurricane Bill has had other effects, apparently bringing an early end to the Bermuda vacation of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton . A State Department spokesman says the Clintons left Bermuda last night as the hurricane moved closer.

Bill is expected to bring high surf, heavy rain and gusty winds to the island as it passes between Bermuda and the East Coast of the United States tomorrow.

The storm is also expected to whip up the surf from Puerto Rico to the Canadian Maritimes.

Forecasters are predicting some flooding and beach erosion along North Carolina's Outer Banks. And emergency managers in New England are warning boaters, swimmers and surfers to take added precautions this weekend.

Waves of up to 20 feet are possible south of Martha's Vineyard, where President Barack Obama and his family were meant to be headed for vacation on Sunday.

As of this afternoon, Bill was a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 110 miles an hour. It was centered about 290 miles south-southwest of Bermuda, or about 695 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., moving northwest around 18 miles an hour.

by Blackwattle Studios

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