CNN 2010-09-07

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Sweater vests and Fridays are awesome 1! Thanks for spending part of yours with CNN Student News. I'm Carl Azuz, taking you through the next 10 minutes of headlines. Let's go ahead and get started.

First Up: Rig Fire

AZUZ: First up, officials are trying to figure out what caused a fire on a rig in the Gulf 2 of Mexico. Another one. This happened yesterday morning. It's a rig that produces oil and gas, and it's located around 100 miles off the coast of Louisiana. 13 people had to go overboard. Authorities said all of them have been accounted for; nobody was hurt. Government officials said that they're prepared to respond to any potential environmental problems that might come up. This was a breaking news story yesterday. The details are still coming in; they'll probably keep coming in all weekend. To get the latest information, head to our web site, CNNStudentNews.com.

AZUZ: Over on the east coast, people are preparing for the impact of Earl. The hurricane was expected to pass near North Carolina's Outer Banks last night. It could hit New England by tonight. Government officials are getting ready. President Obama signed a disaster declaration for North Carolina. What that means is that federal agencies and federal money can be used for any relief efforts. Beyond the physical damage that Earl could cause though, some coastal 3 residents are worried about the economic damage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It may be 8 days it would affect us. It really kills us, along with the economy. And so, this is all we need on a Labor 4 Day weekend.

AZUZ: Well, there it is. That is what Hurricane Earl looks like from the international space station. Thursday, Earl was downgraded to a category 3 hurricane, but this thing -- as you can see -- is massive. It's bigger than the entire state of California. And its outflow, the clouds that are part of the storm, could stretch from one end of Texas all the way to the other.

So What?

AZUZ: You might have noticed that Hurricane Earl keeps changing categories. So what? Well, hurricanes are assigned categories based on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It measures a storm's wind speed and estimates how much damage that storm might cause. Stronger winds, more potential for damage. Category one hurricanes have maximum sustained winds of at least 74 miles per hour. They usually won't cause any real damage to buildings. But they're kind of scary if you've ever been in one. At 96 miles per hour, a storm becomes a category two. A category three hurricane has winds of at least 111 miles per hour. Those can cause some structural 5 damage. Category four is 131. And when those winds reach 156 miles per hour, you're dealing 6 with a category 5 hurricane. Those are the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale. They can cause complete roof failure on most homes and buildings.