Spain was braced this evening for a storm that could push oil slicks from a sunken tanker to its northwest coast, raising fears that further pollution could wreck the region's economic and environmental health.
The storm, with winds reaching up to 110 kilometers per hour, was expected to hit the region in the next 24-48 hours, the local Galician weather service said.
The resulting southwesterly winds could push oil from the sunken Prestige toward the Galician coast.
The storm would also complicate ongoing clean-up efforts already hampered by strong winds and sea swells along the remote region's rough and rocky coastline.
Nearly 300 kilometers of coastline have already been blighted by the spill.
In the worst hit area, between the town of La Coruna and Cape Finisterre, a team of about 500 people was continuing clean-up efforts despite rough weather conditions.
Oil that washed up overnight near Cape Finisterre covered a one-kilometer stretch of beach.
In Corcubion, near Cape Finisterre, the civil guard began setting up floating barriers to defend against approaching oil. Traces of oil were discovered on neighboring beaches but so far Corcubion itself has been spared, a fishing industry representative said, although oil-covered birds have turned up there.
"It is impossible to predict" where the oil will land, Corcubion mayor Rafael Mouzo said. Oil has also washed up near Puerto del Son and Corrubedo to the south. Further south, the mussel-producing towns of Muros and Noya were threatened by an eight-kilometer (five-mile) long oil slick buffeted by the area's shifting winds.
Spain warned yesterday that the slick, propelled by strong southwesterly winds, was headed toward the coast, but experts predicted today that a change in wind direction had eliminated the immediate threat.
AFP