Tropical Storm Gustav grew into a hurricane on Tuesday after emerging in the Caribbean, threatening Haiti with powerful winds less than two weeks after the country was hit by a deadly storm.
“Reports from an air force hurricane aircraft indicate that Gustav has become a hurricane with maximum winds near 130km/h,” the United States National Hurricane Centre said in an advisory.
Earlier, the Haitian government urged its population to take precautions and appealed for international help to deal with the storm’s aftermath, 10 days after Tropical Storm Fay left about 47 people dead or missing on the island.
“In the face of the danger threatening Haiti, I ask national civil protection committees and our friends in international cooperation to help the government manage the risks and disasters,” Interior Minister Paul-Antoine Bien-Aime said on national television.
The neighbouring Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, also issued a hurricane warning for the south-west of the country.
Gustav formed over the Caribbean Sea on Monday, becoming the seventh tropical storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. — AFP