A South Florida scientist said on Monday that it’s not a question of if, but when the oil seeping and spreading into the Gulf of Mexico some 30 miles of the coast of Louisiana will reach the coast of South Florida.

Hans Graber, director of the University of Miami's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing, said the large oil spread which officials said on Monday was bigger than the combined size of Miami-Dade and Broward counties, had broken into fragments, and one of these fragments has a strong possibility of reaching the coast of the Florida Panhandle down to South Florida.

The oil spill from the oil rig that exploded on April 20 has continued unabated to the rate of an estimated 2,000 barrels of oil a day. Efforts taken by the oil company BP, which is responsible for the oil drill, and the U.S. Coast Guard have been unsuccessful in stopping the leak.

Another Florida scientist, Bob Weisberg, from the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida, said that the powerful Loop Current in the Gulf (that turns into the Gulf Stream off the coast of South Florida) poses a threat to pull the spilled oil south to the Florida Keys within days, and push it north to Broward and Palm Beach counties in a week or two.

Governor Charlie Crist has implemented a state of emergency from the Florida Panhandle south to Sarasota County, including 19 counties. Following the governor’s lead, officials at Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Dry Tortugas National Park and Biscayne National Park have initiated disaster preparations, similar to that required for approaching hurricanes.

Graber suggested to the U.S. Coast Guard that it should consider erecting a floating boom from Key West north to Palm Beach to minimize the possibility of oil damaging the beaches and the reefs off the coast. However, Graber cautioned that since there have to be openings in the boom at places like the Miami and Fort Lauderdale ports, the oil could still seep through.

If the oil reaches the Florida coast, not only white sand beaches and reefs would be damaged, but it could destroy sea turtles, shorebirds, and a variety of fish, like snapper, and wildlife that breeds close to the coast. This time of year, spring, is the traditional season for mating, nesting and reproduction of coastal wildlife.

Officials at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the capabilities for predicting when the oil slick could reach South Florida coastline were limited to an approximate three day window.

However, it has been predicted that if the oil does reach the South Florida, it will be a thicker, denser substance than the oil floating in the Gulf. The director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University, Stephen Leatherman, was reported as saying that the problem facing Florida is that anything like the oil spill and its potential for damage off the Florida coast have ever been seen before.