by Playfuls Staff |
28th August 2006
Tropical Storm Ernesto's winds and heavy rain hit Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, early Monday and storm-wary officials ordered tourists to leave the Florida Keys. [more]
The storm reached hurricane status Sunday but lost strength by evening. However, forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ernesto was more difficult to predict than most storms, and issued a hurricane watch for southern Florida.
At 5 a.m. Monday, Ernesto was 45 miles south-southwest of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with winds of 50 mph, and moving northwest at 12 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported. Its winds extended 70 miles outward.
Ernesto lost hurricane status while moving over mountains in Haiti, where one death was reported associated with heavy rain, the Miami Herald said.
Meanwhile, a tropical storm warning was posted in the Bahamas, and tourists were ordered to leave the Florida Keys. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency Sunday, and schools in the Keys were shuttered.
The National Hurricane Center's projected path carried Ernesto's core over the Lower Keys as a Category 1 hurricane and passing close to Miami by Tuesday night.
© 2006 UPI
