Oil rig lost in hurricane

Press, 13 August 1980, Page 8

Oil rig lost in hurricane

NZPA-Reuter Brownsville, Texas An offshore oil rig, worth SUS3O million , has disappeared in the Gulf of Mexico after the passage ot Hurricane Allen. All 50 workers were airlifted from the rig last week before Allen hit the area. But when a helicopter flew the men back yesterday it vainly circled the area looking for the rig which had not yet been put into service.

The owner, a Tulsa, Oklahoma, drilling firm said ; it had asked the Coast Guard to help search for the rig, but it feared it might have sunk. In Washington, President Carter has declared the Texas counties hit by Hurricane Allen a major disaster area.

The storm had been billed as the most intense ever to strike the area and Texas officials made extensive plans to protect residents in the area, which proved effective.;

Despite its weakening when it reached land, the hurricane caused extensive damage in six counties. Disaster area declaration activates aid and makes residents eligible for tax refunds and other help. The only death attributed to the storms was that of a man found on the beach of

Corpus Christi, Texas, where high tides surpassed a record set 60 years ago. Some 2500 people had to be evacuated from lowland regions around the towns of Alice; and Kingsville, where water levels reached 1.5 m above normal.

I In the Rio Grande Valley and in the area between-Port I Arkansas and Raymondville roads were cut, two-thirds of the residential area of Port Mansfield was inundated and most of the region’s cotton and lemon crops were destroyed. But Texans had prepared for the worst, and compared with the potential destruction of Hurricane Allen, i damage was relatively slight. As Governor Bill Clements of Texas, put it. “we were very, very lucky.” Haiti’s Red Cross had used up its relief stocks aiding victims of' the hurricane and has appealed for help for 150,000 people, the League of Red. Cross Societies said in Geneva today. Reports say the death toll reached 200.

The league said it had .appealed to other national Red Cross societies for milk powder, rice, oatmeal, butter oil, blankets, clothing and medicine. It was estimated that more than 100,000 houses had been seriously damaged and thousands of people were without shelter. .