Hurricane Gustav Weakens as it Heads Towards Cuba, Jamaica

26 August 2008 -- Tropical Storm Gustav has slightly weakened as it moves towards the Caribbean island nations of Jamaica and Cuba, but forecasters say it will grow stronger during the next few days.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Gustav is has maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers an hour. Forecasters say the storm is heading northwest on a path that will take it between Jamaica and the southeastern coast of Cuba between Wednesday and Thursday.

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Gustav is expected to regain hurricane strength today once it clears the southwestern peninsula of Haiti. Forecasters said late Tuesday it could become a Category Two storm on the scale that measures a hurricane's power and potential destructiveness.

Forecasters expect Gustav to dump between 15 to 30 centimeters of rain in Haiti and the Dominican Republic -- which share the island of Hispaniola -- as well as on Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. The rains could produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.

Hurricane warnings and watches remain in effect for Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The storm slammed into flood-prone Haiti Tuesday, dumping torrential rains across the southwestern part of the country and leaving at least one person dead.

Gustav - the seventh named storm of this year's Atlantic hurricane season - came ashore west of the city of Jacmel with winds of about 150 kilometers per hour.

Forecasters expect Gustav to reach the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday, possibly with 180 kilometer-per hour winds.

Concerns that the storm could become even stronger and threaten energy facilities in the Gulf sent oil prices higher Tuesday. Oil company Royal Dutch Shell says it will begin evacuating some workers from offshore rigs as early as Wednesday.

Source: VOA News