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Gustav weakens overnight, but expected to enter Gulf on Sunday
8/27/2008
Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Tropical Storm Gustav stalled in the Caribbean early Wednesday a day after hitting Haiti as a hurricane.
But the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm could regain hurricane strength later in the day or on Thursday once it moves away from Haiti.
As of 5 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Gustav's maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph (95 kph) with higher gusts. The storm was centered about 80 miles (125 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince. The storm had not moved much during the last few hours, the hurricane center said. But it was expected to continue moving toward the west-northwest.
Jamaica issued a tropical storm warning Wednesday and also remained under a hurricane watch along with the Cayman Islands. A watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours.
A hurricane warning was in effect for parts of Cuba including the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay. A warning means hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours.
As a hurricane, Gustav caused a killer landslide and dumped torrential rains on southern Haiti on Tuesday before weakening to a tropical storm.
Rising water threatened Haiti's crops amid protests over high food prices, and oil prices rose on fears the storm could batter oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
The storm lingered into the night over Haiti's poor, deforested southern peninsula, and water levels were rising in banana, bean and vegetable fields. One man was killed in a landslide in the mountain town of Benet, civil protection director Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste told Radio Metropole.
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