by PJ on 8/30/2008 09:23:00 PM

(Note: CR is off hiking, and asked me to help with guest posts. For those who don't know, I run HousingWire when I'm not helping out friends. Anything you want discussed, feel free to shoot an email to pjackson@housingwire.com.....)


Hurricane Gustav is shaping up to be a real problem for the Gulf Coast. Per weather.com, it's now very dangerous Cat 4, and will likely become a Cat 5 hurricane before tonight is up. While CR is West Coast, yours truly is in the DFW metroplex, and we're already seeing an influx of the tens of thousands fleeing the Gulf Coast.....




We're already seeing gas prices get hit. Shell Oil said it will pull all workers off platforms, along with nearly every other producer. More importantly, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port will halt taking crude this weekend; it's the only deepwater oil port in the nation.

My best to anyone out there running from what appears to be another major U.S. hurricane, but the oil effects appear as if they'll be felt by all of us, too.

Update: some stats on Gustav, after NO mayor Ray Nagin just ordered a mandatory evacuation:

....Gustav, currently a Category 4 Hurricane with winds of up to 150 miles per hour, now has a 900-mile wide footprint. The storm surge it delivers as it powers ashore on Monday could be as high as 24 feet – higher than Hurricane Katrina, Nagin says he was told. [emphasis added]

I worked in the mortgage/default industry after Katrina. Given what servicers are already dealing with, this is just one more straw on the camel's proverbial back, should it come to pass.