Orjan F. Ellingvag/Dagens Naringsliv/Corbis.
Category 2 Hurricane Alex crashed ashore early this morning, with initial reports of damange and deaths. And despite heading in the opposite direction of the primary oil spill region in the Gulf, the storm is causing plenty of major cleanup headaches.
CNN reported late Wednesday evening that the storm was already generating 12-foot waves, causing a retreat of oil-skimming ships from Louisiana all the way to Florida. Even before the hurricane hit northeast Mexico, speculation surrounding the reorganization of booms that were put in place to prevent the oil from making landfall. (See TIME’s oil spill covers.)
To make matter worse, Texas was racing to reinforce its shorelines, fearing floods from the waves. And the 100 mph storm gusts had already spun off multiple tornadoes in the South Texas region.
In lieu of that Mother-Nature-generated setback was some promising oil spill news – that the world’s largest oil skimmer has been deployed to the Gulf. The AP reports that the “A Whale” underwent a retrofitting process to prepare itself for the Gulf spill. Officials are banking on its ability to vacuum up to 21 million gallons of tainted water daily.