- By
- BEN LEFEBVRE
- And
- ALISON SIDER
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared states of emergency and called out National Guard troops to prepare for Karen's expected landfall Saturday. The storm was 250 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River and was moving northwest with heavy rains and winds gusting to 50 miles an hour.
Much of the east coast of Louisiana, where Mr. Jindal authorized the use of 650 National Guard troops, was under a tropical-storm warning, according to the National Hurricane Center. Karen is the first major storm expected to make landfall in the U.S. so far this hurricane season.
"As with every storm, we always hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Mr. Jindal said late Thursday.
Government forecasters said this storm has been tough to follow. It could eventually turn toward the Northeast, but it isn't clear where or when it will hit, National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb said.
The National Hurricane Center said Friday morning that the storm had weakened somewhat, though a hurricane watch remained in effect between Grand Isle, La., and west of Destin, Fla.
"It has become a little less likely that Karen will reach Hurricane strength," the center said in a forecast posted on its website.
Oil and gas companies working offshore have stopped some production and evacuated workers ahead of the storm.
BP PLC on Friday said it was halting all of its oil and natural-gas production in the deep-water Gulf. Last year BP said it produced 214,000 barrels of oil a day from the region, making it the largest producer there.
"BP will continue to monitor offshore conditions to determine when conditions are safe to redeploy personnel and resume operations," the company said. "We cannot yet predict when that will be."
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said it removed all workers and stopped production in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
"We are continuing to monitor the track of the weather, and we will only return workers and restart production when the weather has passed and it is safe to do so," the company said in a statement.
Anadarko said it was prepared to evacuate workers and halt production in the western Gulf if necessary.
As of Thursday, Royal Dutch Shell PLC said it secured drilling operations in the eastern Gulf and was evacuating some nonessential workers from that region. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. said they were evacuating nonessential workers from some offshore facilities.
Seven major refineries with a combined capacity of 1.8 million barrels a day—about 10% of the U.S. total—are near the Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi coastlines currently in Karen's path.
—Jenny Gross contributed to this article.
