The season's fourth Atlantic storm Colin was brewing Tuesday east of Puerto Rico, but was expected to bypass the Gulf of Mexico and its ruptured oil well, officials said. Sustained winds of 65 kilometres per hour were expected to steer Colin north and northeast of the Leeward Islands by Wednesday evening or early Thursday, dpa quoted the US National Hurricane Centre as saying. The Leeward Islands are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles, near where the north-eastern Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. In July, hurricane Alex and tropical storm Bonnie sent high seas across the Gulf of Mexico, interrupting efforts by BP Plc to contain damage from a ruptured oil well that exploded April 20. The hurricane centre expects an abnormally active hurricane season, lending urgency to BP's efforts to seal off the well with mud and cement.
