Storm holds up work at BP spill site

WORK to permanently choke off BP’s broken oil well stalled yesterday as Tropical Storm Bonnie raced toward the Gulf of Mexico and dozens of ships evacuated the area.

Engineers are so confident in the stability of an experimental plug – which has mostly throttled the oil for more than a week – that they won’t open it even if the storm hits directly. They’ll likely lose sight of the temporary cap for at least a few days.

The storm blossomed over the Bahamas and was to enter the Gulf of Mexico this weekend, and a tropical storm watch was issued early yesterday for the northern Gulf coast from Destin, Florida, to Morgan City, Louisiana.