November 04, 2010, 11:34 AM EDT
By Leela Landress and Alex Morales
Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Tomas turned to the north on a path
that would take it just east of Jamaica today and across eastern Cuba
tomorrow, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
The Cuban government issued a hurricane warning for the province of
Guantanamo. Warnings also were in effect for the southeastern Bahamas,
Haiti and the Turks and Caicos islands, and businesses in Kingston were
urged to close early today in advance of expected heavy rain, according
to the nation's office of disaster preparedness.
The system, with maximum sustained winds of 45 miles (72 kilometers) per
hour, is forecast to strengthen tomorrow into a hurricane with winds of
at least 74 mph, the center said on its website shortly before 11 a.m.
Miami time.
"Haiti is still under the gun," said Jim Rouiller, a senior energy
meteorologist with Planalytics Inc. in Wayne, Pennsylvania. "The only
saving grace I can see coming out of this is that Tomas should not
intensify much."
As much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain was forecast for Haiti and
the Dominican Republic, with up to 3 inches predicted in Jamaica, the
center said.
'Dangerous' Surge
"A dangerous storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 1 to 3
feet above normal tide levels in the warning area in areas of onshore
winds," the center said. "Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied
by large and destructive waves."
Mudslides and flash floods are likely.
"I'm worried that if Tomas slows up any more, it's just going to add
more rainfall," Rouiller said.
Tomas was 125 miles south-southeast of Kingston and 295 miles southwest
of the Haitian capital, moving north at 8 mph, according to the U.S. center.
The system has been erratic since it developed, reaching Category 2
hurricane status over the weekend and then weakening to a tropical
depression yesterday. The center said yesterday it was unlikely that
Tomas would regain hurricane strength.
The hurricane center yesterday was forecasting a direct hit on Haiti,
where more than 1 million people have lived in camps since an earthquake
in January that killed 300,000 people and a cholera outbreak has
infected thousands and killed hundreds.
Haiti Prepares
Haitian President Rene Preval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive two
days ago held an emergency cabinet meeting with aid officials to prepare
for floods and mobilize shelter and food.
Silvie Louchez, the Haiti country director for the American Refugee
Committee, said yesterday people were "very, very reluctant to move"
from camps, including Corail, which houses 7,000 quake victims and poses
a high risk as it was built on a desert flood plain north of Port-au-Prince.
In the eastern Caribbean, nations cleaned up after Tomas, which Saint
Lucia's government called its "worst-ever natural disaster," killing
seven people.
Tomas swept through the Windward Islands as a hurricane Oct. 29 to 31,
damaging 500 homes in Barbados and 1,200 in Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines, and wiping out Saint Lucia's banana crop, the Caribbean
Disaster Emergency Management Agency said yesterday in a situation report.
Tomas is the 19th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which
runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. This year is the third-most-active on
record, tied with 1995 and 1887, according to Dennis Feltgen, a
spokesman for the hurricane center. In 2005, a record 28 storms formed
in the Atlantic.
--With assistance from Eric Sabo in Panama City and Blake Schmidt in
Granada, Nicaragua. Editors: Charlotte Porter, Bil Banker.
No comments:
Post a Comment