NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Choppy seas and strong winds are slowing some Gulf oil spill cleanup work even as crews are surveying damage caused by Hurricane Alex.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday offshore oil skimming vessels are still idle in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.
      
Skimming is still going on in Louisiana, but cleanup crews there can't burn oil corralled by the skimmers.
      
The Coast Guard says crews are spending much of Sunday checking containment boom for damage caused by Hurricane Alex last week.
      
The hurricane missed the oil spill by hundreds of miles but still kicked up enough bad weather to halt cleanup work, push oil closer to shore and mangle containment boom.