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August 26, 2012

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Florida braces for Isaac fury

TROPICAL Storm Isaac emerged over warm Caribbean waters yesterday slightly weaker but ready to regroup after dumping torrential rains on Haiti, where thousands of people remain homeless more than two years after a devastating earthquake.

The storm was forecast to sweep over eastern Cuba yesterday and strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches the Florida Keys on a track toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Lashing rains and high winds were reported along parts of Haiti's southern coast and in the capital Port-au-Prince, where over 350,000 survivors of the 2010 earthquake are still living in fragile tent and tarpaulin camps.

Intermittent power outages affected the greater Port-au-Prince area early yesterday as Isaac moved across hilly inland areas of the severely deforested Caribbean country.

The center of Isaac was about 150 kilometers east-southeast of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, early yesterday morning, the United States National Hurricane Center said.

A hurricane warning was already in effect in the Florida Keys, but the NHC said it was extending this to part of the southwest coast of Florida.

Isaac's march across the Caribbean comes as US Republicans prepare to gather in Tampa, on Florida's central Gulf Coast, for tomorrow's start of their national convention ahead of the November presidential election.

The convention is expected to proceed as planned but Gulf of Mexico operators began shutting down offshore oil and gas rigs on Friday ahead of the storm.

The biggest immediate concern was heavily deforested Haiti, where Isaac's rains could trigger deadly flash flooding and mudslides.


 

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