NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders for low-lying areas south of New Orleans on Friday as a weakened Tropical Storm Karen closed in on the Louisiana coast after disrupting U.S. energy output in the Gulf of Mexico.
Karen's top winds were holding at 50 mph, down from 65 mph a day earlier, and National Hurricane Center forecasters in Miami said the storm was expected to strengthen somewhat but remain a tropical storm.
Oil output in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico had been cut in half as oil and gas firms shut platforms and evacuated some workers in preparation for the storm. The Gulf accounts for about 19 percent of U.S. oil production and 6 percent of natural gas output.
The mayor of Grand Isle, Louisiana, clamped a mandatory evacuation on the popular vacation and fishing destination on a barrier island south of New Orleans. Evacuations were also ordered in Lafourche Parish in the south, and residents in much of Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans, were told to be out of their homes before nightfall.
The Sand Dollar Motel and Marina on Grand Isle was a frenzy of activity on Friday as boaters scrambled to get their vessels to higher ground and marina employees secured the premises.
"It's already pouring here and the wind is real strong," said marina owner Susan Gaspard, who added that squalls had been hitting all morning.
