BAHAMAS/USA: Tropical Storm Noel deluges Bahamas

Noel causes havoc in the Caribbean but for the most part spares the east coast of the United States. Tropical Storm Noel swept across the northwestern Bahamas on Thursday, picking up both power and speed as it moved away from Florida and the Caribbean, where its torrential rains killed more than 100 people. A storm warning in Florida was lifted as Noel moved farther away on a long-anticipated shift to the north-northeast that would eventually bring it as a possibly fierce but non-tropical storm to Nova Scotia in Canada. The British mid-Atlantic territory of Bermuda posted a gale warning, just in case Noel veered more to the east than forecast, U.S. hurricane forecasters said. By 5 p.m. EDT, the centre of Noel was 40 miles north-northeast of Nassau in the Bahamas. The storm was moving north-northeast at a brisk 14 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Noel had top sustained winds of 65 mph, slightly stronger than on Thursday morning but below the 74 mph wind speed level at which tropical storms become hurricanes, the centre said. The northernmost islands of the Bahamas were still feeling Noel's onslaught and several churches opened as shelters on the island of Abaco. Residents of Long Island in the central Bahamas suffered "devastating" losses as the storm dumped a record 15 inches of rain on the island over two days, the National Emergency Management Agency said. The storm caused flood levels on the island not seen for 60 years and families at several settlements were forced to evacuate homes and businesses as water reached a depth of 3 feet in some places. The storm left a trail of waterlogged death and destruction in the Caribbean after slamming the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba with unrelenting downpours. Although Florida was largely spared, heavy winds associated with the storm was exacerbating the area's beach erosion.

ITN Source | November 2, 2007

Tags:. .left. .florida. .seen. .possibly. .east