Tropical Storm Lee has made landfall in Louisiana, bringing with it torrential rains threatening floods in parts of the country.

Hurricane Noel on Friday churned over the Atlantic Ocean on a northerly track to Canada after battering the Caribbean where it killed at least 122 people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It is expected to slam into Nova Scotia over the weekend still packing powerful winds, but no longer bearing the characteristics of a tropical cyclone.

The death toll from Tropical Storm Noel's rampage through the Caribbean rose to at least 54 on Wednesday as the devastating weather system swirled off Cuba and targeted the Bahamas. In the Dominican Republic alone, the storm killed 41 people, with another 38 reported missing, according to the National Emergencies Centre.

Floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Noel have killed at least 80 people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, as the weather system on Thursday slowly headed towards the Bahamas. At least 56 people were killed and dozens are missing in the Dominican Republic.

Severe weather, including a possible tornado, damaged about 50 homes in central Florida before the system became a subtropical depression on Friday and had parts of the Gulf Coast under tropical-storm warnings. Television news footage showed a boat overturned in a yard, a toppled mobile home and downed trees.