OMEN
08-29-2006, 09:02 PM
MIAMI: Tropical Storm Ernesto began intensifying as it left Cuba and headed over open water towards south Florida where forecasters said there was a chance it could come ashore at hurricane strength.
On the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which battered the US Gulf Coast and swamped New Orleans, a state of emergency was in effect in Florida as Ernesto approached. Residents stocked up on supplies, tourists were ordered out of the Florida Keys and courts and schools were closed.
At 5am (0900 GMT), Ernesto's maximum sustained winds had strengthened to 72 kph over the warm waters of the Florida Straits from 64 kph several hours earlier when it was still over Cuba.
The US National Hurricane Centre said Ernesto was expected to come ashore along the middle to upper Florida Keys and heavily populated south Florida in 18 to 24 hours.
"Now that Ernesto has moved back over water at least some steady intensification is expected," the hurricane centre said, adding there was a chance the storm "could become a hurricane before reaching Florida."
It added Ernesto could later re-emerge over the Atlantic off northeast Florida and make a second landfall near the South Carolina/North Carolina coasts in 60 to 72 hours, also near hurricane intensity.
Ernesto was briefly the year's first hurricane on Sunday when its top winds reached 121 kph before it weakened over the mountains of Haiti.
The storm killed two people in Haiti before striking Cuba, where it dropped up to 18 cm of rain before fading into showers and thunderstorms.
Forecasters said Ernesto could dump 12-25 cm of rain over parts of east and south Florida and the Keys through Wednesday. The state has been battered by eight hurricanes in two years.
Officials and residents were mindful of nature's force a year to the day since Hurricane Katrina flooded most of New Orleans, killed 1500 people and caused $80 billion in damage.
"Just prepare. It's not fun and games," Mike Puto, city manager of Marathon in the Keys, told residents.
CUBA SPARED THE WORST
Ernesto made landfall in Cuba earlier on Monday near Guantanamo Bay, site of the US naval base where several hundred suspected al Qaeda and Taliban militants are held.
Many of the 600,000 Cubans who were evacuated before the storm returned home after Ernesto passed and there were no initial reports of deaths or serious damage.
"It wasn't as bad as we expected. There was much less rain," said Yieney, a receptionist at the Brisas Santa Lucia hotel on the coast of Camaguey province, where 200 package-deal tourists were staying. They were not evacuated.
At 5am (0900 GMT), the centre of Ernesto was 370km southeast of Key West, Florida, and about 380km south-southeast of Miami. Ernesto was moving northwest at 22 kph, the Miami-based hurricane centre said.
Oil prices edged up on Tuesday after falling more than $2 on Monday as Ernesto seemed less likely to threaten oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, where a quarter of US oil and gas is pumped.
Reuters
On the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which battered the US Gulf Coast and swamped New Orleans, a state of emergency was in effect in Florida as Ernesto approached. Residents stocked up on supplies, tourists were ordered out of the Florida Keys and courts and schools were closed.
At 5am (0900 GMT), Ernesto's maximum sustained winds had strengthened to 72 kph over the warm waters of the Florida Straits from 64 kph several hours earlier when it was still over Cuba.
The US National Hurricane Centre said Ernesto was expected to come ashore along the middle to upper Florida Keys and heavily populated south Florida in 18 to 24 hours.
"Now that Ernesto has moved back over water at least some steady intensification is expected," the hurricane centre said, adding there was a chance the storm "could become a hurricane before reaching Florida."
It added Ernesto could later re-emerge over the Atlantic off northeast Florida and make a second landfall near the South Carolina/North Carolina coasts in 60 to 72 hours, also near hurricane intensity.
Ernesto was briefly the year's first hurricane on Sunday when its top winds reached 121 kph before it weakened over the mountains of Haiti.
The storm killed two people in Haiti before striking Cuba, where it dropped up to 18 cm of rain before fading into showers and thunderstorms.
Forecasters said Ernesto could dump 12-25 cm of rain over parts of east and south Florida and the Keys through Wednesday. The state has been battered by eight hurricanes in two years.
Officials and residents were mindful of nature's force a year to the day since Hurricane Katrina flooded most of New Orleans, killed 1500 people and caused $80 billion in damage.
"Just prepare. It's not fun and games," Mike Puto, city manager of Marathon in the Keys, told residents.
CUBA SPARED THE WORST
Ernesto made landfall in Cuba earlier on Monday near Guantanamo Bay, site of the US naval base where several hundred suspected al Qaeda and Taliban militants are held.
Many of the 600,000 Cubans who were evacuated before the storm returned home after Ernesto passed and there were no initial reports of deaths or serious damage.
"It wasn't as bad as we expected. There was much less rain," said Yieney, a receptionist at the Brisas Santa Lucia hotel on the coast of Camaguey province, where 200 package-deal tourists were staying. They were not evacuated.
At 5am (0900 GMT), the centre of Ernesto was 370km southeast of Key West, Florida, and about 380km south-southeast of Miami. Ernesto was moving northwest at 22 kph, the Miami-based hurricane centre said.
Oil prices edged up on Tuesday after falling more than $2 on Monday as Ernesto seemed less likely to threaten oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, where a quarter of US oil and gas is pumped.
Reuters