Oil Companies Prepare for Hurricane Sandy in Northeast
As Hurricane Sandy approaches the Northeast, oil refineries along the US Atlantic Seaboard set up emergency plans. Six refineries, representing 1.19 million barrels per day (7 percent of total US capacity), could potentially be hit by the storm.
As Sandy tore through the Caribbean, it left 21 dead before heading northward. Once it hits the east coast, some say it could potentially cause billions of dollars worth of damage, topping last year's Hurricane Irene. Although it is too soon to tell how bad Sandy will be, oil refineries and energy companies are preparing for the worst.
Forecasters expect Sandy to make its way ashore in the northeast late Monday or early Tuesday, unleashing heavy rains, storm surges and possibly near hurricane-force winds.
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Duke Energy and Red Cross are on standby with trucks and crews ready to go if power is knocked out.
“This isn’t our first storm,” Jason Walls with Duke Energy told wsoctv. “As with any storm big or small, we have a detailed response plan. We pull out those plans and check inventories. We watch the storm as it develops, and our crews are ready to respond.”