US News
Ernesto brings rain to Cuba - tropical storm warning in effect
By DPA
Aug 29, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Havanna- Tropical Storm Ernesto brought up to 25 centimetres of heavy rain to parts of eastern Cuba early Tuesday prompting fears of floods and mud slides.

According to the Cuban Meteorological Institute, the centre of the storm crossed the Antilles Islands Monday evening and reached open seas again 550 kilometres east of Havanna after crossing Cuba at wind speeds of only 65 kilometres per hour.

But the US National Hurricane Centre said Ernesto could pick up speed to hurricane strength as it crosses the warm ocean waters on its way to Florida, where NASA was preparing to launch the shuttle Atlantis on the first major construction mission to the International Space Station in three years.

Tropical storm warnings remained in place in vast parts of Florida and a hurricane watch was in effect along Florida's east coast, where NASA's Cape Canaveral is located, and for the Bimini Islands and Grand Bahama Island, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

Mission managers were prepared to roll Atlantis back to its hangar, after the shuttle launch was already delayed once on Sunday by a lightning strike. Atlantis had been cleared for lift-off Tuesday, but launch has now been scrapped until the end of the week.

If Atlantis is returned to its hangar, NASA said the launch could be delayed until October.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency in advance of the storm, to mobilize preparedness teams. Tourists on the Florida Keys were urged to move further inland. Schools were to remain closed in the Keys.

Florida officials and NASA were hoping the storm would veer to the east and miss Florida, which has been hit repeatedly in past years by strong hurricanes.

Following the rainfall in Cuba, authorities ordered the evacuation of around 600,000 people in the provinces between Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Camaguey.

Ernesto was downgraded late Sunday to a tropical storm after making landfall across impoverished Haiti, already devastated by severe deforestation and erosion. However, the storm warning had remained in place in 10 of 14 Cuban provinces late Monday and early Tuesday.

In Camaguey, the rain was almost welcomed owing to a drought that has lasted several years already.

Incessant rain fell throughout the region from the island of Hispaniola, the second largest island in the Caribbean, containing both the Dominican Republic and Haiti, to Jamaica and Cuba early Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the price of oil rose again slightly on Tuesday after dropping by almost two dollars following the downgrading of Ernesto on Monday.

A 159-litre barrel of US WTI crude oil for delivery in October traded at 70.79 dollars, an increase of more than 18 cents over Monday.

Traders said there was hardly any threat to the oil-producing regions of the Gulf of Mexico.