CUBA/USA: Tropical Storm Ernesto moves away from Cuba and towards Florida

Tropical Storm Ernesto left a rain-drenched Cuba and bore down on south Florida on Tuesday (August 29) but forecasters said there was only a small chance it would regain hurricane strength before barrelling into the state's most populous areas. Residents of Miami emptied stores and formed lines at gasoline stations while vendors in the tourist area of South Beach put up protective shutters on the windows to protect against storm surge. It was the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which flooded most of New Orleans, killed about 1,500 people and caused $80 billion in damage. Preparations could especially be seen at beach-front hotels and stores. Some vendors were protecting their front windows with aluminium shutters. A state of emergency was in effect in Florida. Tourists were ordered out of the low-lying Florida Keys as the first rain squalls whipped ashore and courts and schools were closed. Some airlines cancelled flights. One tourist came to Miami Beach from the Keys and was just glad for now he could stay. "I think it's okay because they haven't asked us to evacuate. We like to be on the beach, surf. It doesn't look like its' so bad so far. We were in the Keys a couple days ago and they told us they had to evacuate so we came to Miami Beach," said one tourist. At Home Depot in the "Little Havana" area of Miami, Florida, residents were buying generators, batteries, plywood and other supplies. "Well what we are selling the most right now is generators also oil for the generators, extension cords for the generators and batteries," said Home Depot employee, Paula Rodriguez. At 2 p.m. (1800 GMT), Ernesto's sustained winds were blowing at 45 mph (72 kph) over the warm waters of the Florida Straits and further strengthening was expected before the storm hit Florida, the National Hurricane Center said. The winds were expected to intensify to as much as 70 mph (113 kph) by the time the centre of the storm makes landfall near the Keys or southern Florida on Tuesday night. In Cuba, many of the 600,000 people who were evacuated returned home and there were no initial reports of deaths or serious damage. There was some flooding in the small fishing village of Nuevitas in the Camaguey province but residents were relieved there was no significant storm surge and many believed the worst was over. "There have been bigger hurricanes than this, with more pressure, more flooding and higher surges," Rafael Avila, a municipal beach official, said. Ernesto could later re-emerge over the Atlantic off northeast Florida and make a second landfall in the Carolinas in 60 to 72 hours, also near hurricane intensity. The National Weather Service said the main concern was potential flooding, with up to 15 inches (31 cm) of rain possible in some areas of mainland South Florida and a possible storm tide of three to five feet (0.9 to 5 meters) above mean sea level along the Biscayne Bay shore of Miami-Dade County. Ernesto was briefly the year's first hurricane on Sunday when its top winds reached 75 mph (121 kph) before it weakened over the mountains of Haiti. The storm killed two people in Haiti before striking Cuba, where it dropped up up to 7 inches (18 cm) of rain before fading into showers and thunderstorms. Meanwhile, NASA reversed a decision to shelter the space shuttle Atlantis on Tuesday and returned it to its seaside launch pad as the threat from Tropical Storm Ernesto subsided. The move rekindled hopes that the U.S. space agency would be able to launch its first International Space Station assembly mission since the 2003 Columbia accident before the end of its current launch window on Sept. 7. The shuttle began its slow, day-long ride back to a cavernous hangar on Tuesday morning to protect it from high winds and rain expected from Ernesto, which was approaching south Florida. While the storm was still forecast to pass near Cape Canaveral later in the week, it was no longer expected to be strong enough to threaten the $2 billion shuttle, or a $372 million station power module packed in its cargo bay, NASA said. The launch window is determined by technical factors, including the position of the space station, the angle of the sun and newly imposed restrictions by NASA to launch only during daylight so cameras can have clear views of the shuttle's external fuel tank. Foam insulation falling off the tank during launch triggered the Columbia disaster, which killed seven astronauts. NASA has since redesigned the tank twice. The Sept. 7 deadline also is due to a planned Russian launch of a Soyuz resupply ship to the space station. NASA had asked about delaying the capsule's flight to buy more time for a shuttle launch but program managers said on Tuesday that option was unlikely for technical reasons. The next launch opportunity for Atlantis would have been in late October. NASA has four years to complete construction of the $100 billion space station before the shuttles, which are the only vehicles designed for the job, are retired in 2010.

ITN Source | August 30, 2006

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