Tropical Storm Karen heads for US Gulf Coast A tropical storm warning was in effect for a stretch along the Louisiana coast. Karen's centre was expected to reach the coast on Saturday night. Set to become the first named system to strike the United States this year, Karen was packing maximum sustained winds of near 50 mph at 1800 GMT. "Little change in strength is expected during the next day or so with some strengthening possible Saturday night and Sunday," the Miami-based NHC said. The combination of storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters. Through Sunday night, Karen was expected to dump up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in isolated areas, and three to six inches over parts of the central and eastern Gulf Coast. Oil prices rose Friday on falling production as companies evacuated staff from sensitive refining and production areas along the Gulf Coast. The main US contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in November, closed at $103.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 53 cents from Thursday's closing level. On Thursday, President Barack Obama was briefed on disaster preparations and his administration recalled emergency workers who had been told to stay home due to a government shutdown linked to a bitter budget dispute. Scott sought to reassure residents that the shutdown would not impact preparedness and potential relief efforts. "We will not let the government shutdown in Washington in any way hurt our emergency response efforts in Florida," he said.