Tomas heads for Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba

Tropical Storm Tomas appeared to barrel towards the Jamaican capital but may become a hurricane by the time it reaches Haiti, southeastern Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Cuba, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said today.The NHC said that Tomas, which lashed the Windward Islands as a Category One hurricane, had begun to move northward towards Jamaica and Haiti. At 11 a.m. (10 a.m. Jamaica), it was estimated to be 205 kilometres (125 miles) south-south east of Kingston, and 475 kilometres (295 mi) west-south west of Port au Prince,Haiti.The storm, which has already caused 14 deaths in St. Lucia and millions of dollars in damage in St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados, had shown little change in strength overnight but was packing winds of 75 kilometres per hour (45 miles per hour).The governments of Jamaica placed the island under a tropical storm warning while forecasters urged residents in Haiti, southeastern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos to rush their preparations to completion as they predicted tropical storm conditions from as soon as early tomorrow, making outside preparations difficult and dangerous.Jamaica’s capital and eastern coasts appeared within striking distance of the tropical storm Tomas, which could bring a dangerous storm surge and large battering waves in excess of three feet. Rainfall accumulations of up to three inches were also expected to inundate the island’s low-lying coastal fringes.In Haiti, where many of the residents of the capital, Port au Prince, remain in ramshackled shanty towns and tents following the January 12th earthquake, the situation appeared to be more grave. Forecasters were expecting the heavy rains from Tomas to trigger “life-threatening flash floods and mudslides over mountainous terrain”. Many hills and mountains overlooking the Haitian capital are particularly vulnerable, having been stripped of much of their forest cover over the years by intense deforestation.Cuban authorities placed the western province of Guantanamo, home of the US Naval Base, under a hurricane warning, and issued tropical storm warnings for the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Holguin.The NHC said that at 11.00 a.m. local time, the centre of the storm was located near latitude 16.3 degrees north, longitude 76.1 degrees west and was moving northward at 13 km/h (8 mph). Tropical storm force winds extended 85 miles outward and mostly east of its centre, it added. (CMC)