Workers abducted from oil rigs as a hurricane threatens heavy rains, winds

HALIFAX – ExxonMobil withdrew some of its workers from offshore oil platforms on Wednesday as Hurricane Chris advanced to Atlantic Canada

The Category 2 storm, which produced winds of over 155 kilometers per hour, was to follow At the start of the day on Thursday, south of Nova Scotia, ExxonMobil reported that an indeterminate number of non-essential employees had been removed from the Sable Offshore Energy facilities, near from Sable Island. "We continue to monitor, but according to current forecasts, we do not anticipate that the storm will affect our offshore operations," said Merle MacIsaac, ExxonMobil spokesperson, in an email referring to the Sable project. 19659005] He said that in general, there were about 150 people in the combined facilities, and that there were about 90 people off the coast after the referrals.

BP Canada also said Stacy O 'Rourke, spokesperson for the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, said that it's not unusual for operators to remove staff from their yards and that they are required to have contingency funds. plans in place for adverse weather conditions.

"This is not unusual at all," she said. As a precaution, these measures have been taken.

According to Environment Canada, the storm will avoid Nova Scotia and head to Newfoundland before it is downgraded to a post-tropical storm late Thursday.

Hurricane Chris is expected to cause heavy rain and strong winds in the southeastern half of Newfoundland. The total rainfall could reach 70 millimeters, with the heaviest rainfall expected in the west of the Avalon Peninsula.

Ocean waves along the south coast of Newfoundland would reach eight meters in some areas, while the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia In the United States, forecasters said Wednesday that beach lovers on the Atlantic coast should be wary of surfing waves and dangerous currents that threaten their lives, while Chris was spinning off the east coast of the United States. 19659005] The Miami National Weather Service reported that the storm was heading north-east at about 35 km / h