Haiti Braces for Approaching Storm

Residents attend Mass in front of the destroyed
national cathedral in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Sunday.

From Sun-Sentinel.com...Keep the people of Haiti in your prayers...


Up-and-down Tomas re-strengthened into tropical storm on Wednesday afternoon, prompting numerous watches and warnings to be posted along the coasts of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, eastern Cuba and the southern Bahamas.

At 8 p.m., the system was in the Caribbean about 300 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, or about 240 miles southeast of Kingston, crawling northwest at 6 mph with sustained winds of 45 mph.

Tomas is not expected to intensify into a hurricane but rather remain a tropical storm. It is projected to pass about 100 miles east of Jamaica on Thursday and brush western Haiti early on Friday. From there, it is predicted to move through the southern Bahamas by Saturday and aim out into the Atlantic.

Tomas could produce up to 10 inches of rain and a storm surge of three feet above normal tide levels along its path, the National Hurricane Center said.

For Haiti, which is struggling to recover from the January earthquake and a cholera outbreak, that could be disastrous, as the country is vulnerable to flash flooding and mudslides.

On Sunday, Tomas was a Category 2 hurricane with top winds of 100 mph. It then deflated into a tropical storm. Earlier on Wednesday, Tomas was weakened by wind shear into a disorganized tropical depression.

Forecasters say they expect the system to steadily strengthen because it is moving into a more favorable environment and over warm waters.