Rough weather from Tropical Storm Alex is hampering containment and clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. On Thursday, National Incident Commander Thad Allen of the US Coast Guard said many ships have been grounded until conditions improve.

Adm. Thad Allen: “Onshore and near-shore skimming and recovery operations have been significantly hampered by the weather. The small vessels that do the skimming have a difficult time operating out there. We had to pull them back. The same with the vessels operating in and around the well site itself. The drilling rigs were able to continue, but we are now massing our forces to be able to move right back out once the weather will allow us to get on the water and skim.”