/ 16 August 2008

Tropical Storm Fay heads for Haiti

The sixth tropical storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season was heading for Haiti on Saturday where heavy rains could cause mudslides and flash floods, the United States National Hurricane Centre said.

Tropical Storm Fay was expected to move across Haiti in the morning before heading for Cuba. It was then expected to move in the direction of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, with computer models showing it emerging somewhere near south Florida by Monday.

The storm was not projected by the Miami-based hurricane centre to strengthen into a hurricane, with winds of at least 119km/h. The high mountains of Hispaniola and the amount of time it seemed destined to spend over land in Cuba would most likely drain it of energy.

At 6am GMT, Fay was located about 95km east of Port-au-Prince and was moving toward the west at about 22km/h.

Top sustained winds had reached near 75km/h but the storm’s potential rainfall of 10cm to 20cm was of greater concern than its winds, particularly over the denuded hillsides of Haiti, where thousands of people have been killed by mudslides and floods during the past few hurricane seasons.

In some areas torrential rainfall of 30cm could be expected, the hurricane centre said, adding this could cause life-threatening mudslides and flash floods.

Tropical-storm warnings were in effect for the entire coast of Haiti, for the entire north coast of the Dominican Republic and for part of the south coast. A tropical-storm warning was also in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands, the south-eastern Bahamas and part of Cuba.

A tropical-storm warning means storm conditions with gusty winds and rain can be expected within 24 hours.

Energy markets have been watching the storm system closely as several computer models projected it could enter the Gulf of Mexico, home to US oil and gas production rigs.

The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season is on track to be more active than average, due to warm sea waters and favourable atmospheric conditions.

Two of the tropical storms so far, Bertha and Dolly, reached hurricane strength before fading out over the open Atlantic and washing up on the shores of south Texas, respectively. — Reuters