Ernesto Becomes a Potentially Dangerous Hurricane
By Jim Loney
MIAMI (Reuters) – Ernesto grew into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season on Sunday and threatened deforested Haiti with floods and mudslides as it headed for the Gulf of Mexico a year after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.
Forecasters said Ernesto could become a Category 3 hurricane with 115 miles per hour (185 km per hour) winds in the Gulf, home to a quarter of U.S. oil and gas production, and its most likely path would take it ashore on Florida’s west coast near Tampa on Thursday.
But first, the growing hurricane took aim at Haiti, where past tropical storms and hurricanes have killed thousands of people, and Cuba.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Ernesto’s top sustained winds rose early on Sunday to 75 mph (120 kph), up from 60 mph (95 kph) just a few hours earlier.
The storm was about 115 miles southwest of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, at 8 a.m. (1200 GMT) on Sunday and was a Category 1 storm on the five-stage Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.
A hurricane warning was issued for the southern coast of Haiti — meaning hurricane conditions were expected within 24 hours. Forecasters said up to 12 inches of rain — with up to 20 inches in isolated areas — could fall on the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Tropical Storm Jeanne killed about 3,000 people in Haiti two years ago when its rains triggered floods and mudslides in and around the city of Gonaives.
The Miami-based hurricane center said Ernesto could become a Category 2 hurricane before it reaches the coast of Cuba on Monday. A Category 2 storm has top sustained winds from 96 to 110 mph (155-177 kph) and can cause moderate damage.
CATEGORY 3 POTENTIAL
By Thursday, it could be a Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph (185 kph) winds as it approaches the U.S. Gulf coast, forecasters said.
The hurricane center said the storm’s most likely path would take it ashore on the U.S. Gulf coast between Alabama and the Florida Keys, leaving New Orleans outside of the cone of danger. But Ernesto’s potential path had fluctuated dramatically in the past few days.
People in New Orleans, still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina’s blow last August 29, were keeping a close eye on the storm. Forecasters said warm waters could greatly strengthen Ernesto as it approached the Gulf, where a quarter of U.S. crude oil and natural gas production is based.
"Our entire coast is on alert," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Saturday as New Orleans prepared to mark the first anniversary of Katrina.
Katrina flooded most of the historic Southern city after breaching its levees and killed about 1,500 people on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cuba issued hurricane watches as Ernesto approached. A hurricane watch meant hurricane conditions could be expected within 36 hours.
Hundreds of Jamaicans cleared supermarket shelves of basic supplies and headed for shelters. Cuban authorities prepared to evacuate the town of Cocodrilo on the Isle of Youth.
Ernesto was moving northwest at about 9 mph (15 kph) and on that track its center was expected to pass near the southwestern tip of Haiti on Sunday afternoon and near the southeastern coast of Cuba on Monday morning.
The hurricane center said a tropical storm watch might be required for parts of the Florida Keys later on Sunday.
Oil prices rose on Friday as Ernesto developed. On Saturday, British oil major BP Plc said it would pull 800 nonessential workers from its Gulf of Mexico drilling rigs and nonproducing platforms, cutting its offshore Gulf work force by a third but not affecting production.
(Additional reporting by Eric Beech in Washington, Peter Henderson in New Orleans and Erwin Seba in Houston)