US VICE-PRESIDENT, Joe Biden was visiting the Gulf of Mexico yesterday, as a tropical storm, forecast to reach hurricane strength, was likely to hamper oil spill cleanup efforts.

Tropical Storm Alex is gaining strength as it swirls across the Gulf of Mexico today on a path towards Mexico’s north-eastern coast.

BP’s clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico could be hit by a further setback with a tropical storm threatening to home in on the spill region.

The first tropical storm of the Atlantic 2010 hurricane season has formed in the western Caribbean, but it’s not on track to pass over the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.