Tropical Depression 5 looked like a monster as it swirled in Gulf waters to the West of South Florida, but the massive form “struggled to organize” and then dissipated, according to meteorologists with the New Orleans office of the National Weather Service.

Light rain is falling on the southern edge of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans.  Wind is light here too, nowhere near the 40 mph gusts that were once feared possible with the storm that failed to earn the name “Danielle”.

Some areas are seeing 15-20 mph winds and 3-5 inches of rain has already fallen in some areas including St. Bernard Parish.

In the meantime conditions have improved enough at the Deepwater Horizon spill site that engineers have resumed work on the relief well, removing the temporary plug installed before the storm’s arrival and preparing to finish drilling the final 30 feet to intersect the broken Macondo well and complete the “bottom kill” procedure to permanently seal the leak with more concrete and drilling mud.

It’s also possible the “bottom kill” isn’t even needed anymore.  BP and government officials say the concrete they pumped in from the top three weeks ago appears to have done the job and more tests are being done to confirm this.

Skimming and beach cleanup operations suspended by the storm are also expected to resume as soon as the worst of the weather passes.