Tropical Storm Tomas crept slowly across the southern Caribbean Wednesday evening, inching toward Haiti and a possible early Friday morning landfall on the earthquake-devastated nation. Earlier in the day, Tomas -- which slammed into St. Lucia Sunday as a Category 1 hurricane -- fell to tropical depression status but strengthened again just a few hours later.
Haiti is under a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch, while the governments of Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas have issued tropical storm watches. A tropical storm watch is also in effect for Jamaica.
Watches mean storm conditions are possible with the watch area, usually within 48 hours. Warnings mean storm conditions are expected within the warning area within 36 hours.
The official National Hurricane Center forecast track shows that Tomas is likely to make landfall in southwestern Haiti around 1 a.m. Friday as a tropical storm, which would mean sustained winds between 39 mph (63 kph) and 73 mph (117 kph), with higher gusts. But, they said, the storm may be approaching hurricane strength -- 74 mph (118 kph) -- by that time.
Public health officials are especially concerned because of a cholera outbreak in Haiti that has killed more than 300 people and could worsen with the coming storm.
Tomas could dump enough rain for accumulations of 5 to 10 inches over much of Haiti, some of which could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, the hurricane center said.
Haiti's president and prime minister held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss evacuations of coastal communities, the United Nations said Wednesday.
Read More:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/11/03/tropical.weather/index.html?hpt=T2
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