Tropical Storm Ernesto weakened further on Wednesday as it swirled over southern Florida, where residents heaved a sigh of relief it had not regained hurricane strength.
Contrary to expectations, Ernesto did not strengthen after leaving the Cuban coast, and remained a weak tropical storm when it hit Florida late on Tuesday.
It lost even more of its punch on Wednesday morning, when its maximum sustained winds were recorded at 65kph.
Further weakening was expected during the day, when the tropical storm was expected to move along the Florida peninsula before heading back out to the Atlantic Ocean.
It was expected to make landfall again in South Carolina on Thursday, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre.
On Sunday, Ernesto had strengthened into the first Atlantic hurricane of the year, causing one death in Haiti before losing its punch on Monday as it moved over mountainous areas of Cuba.
Experts initially feared Ernesto would hit Florida as a powerful hurricane packing the same intensity as Katrina, which killed 1 500 people after it slammed ashore near New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 29 2005.
The initial concern prompted Florida Governor Jeb Bush to declare a state of emergency, while visitors were ordered to leave the Florida Keys.
Nasa cancelled the Tuesday blast-off of the space shuttle Atlantis from Florida’s Atlantic coast but changed its mind about moving the shuttle to its hangar for protection as the storm outlook improved. — AFP
