PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI: Storm Isaac swept across Haiti's southern peninsula early yesterday, dousing a capital city prone to flooding and adding to the misery of a poor nation still trying to recover from the terrible 2010 earthquake.
The storm was heading toward eastern Cuba and forecasters said it poses a threat to Florida Monday and Tuesday, just as the Republican Party gathers for its national convention in Tampa. The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said a hurricane warning is in effect for the Florida Keys and for the west coast of Florida from Bonita Beach south to Florida Bay.
At least three people were reported dead. A woman and a child died in the town of Souvenance, Sen. Francisco Delacruz told a local radio station. A 10-year-old girl died in Thomazeau when a wall fell on his, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of Haiti's Civil Protection Office.
She said as many as 5,000 people were evacuated because of flooding.
Many, however, stayed and suffered. The sprawling seaside shantytown of Cite Soleil was among the areas that flooded.
Isaac was centered about 95 miles (150 kilometers) east-southeast of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, early Friday, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph). It was moving northwest at 14 mph (22 kph). Tropical force winds extended nearly 200 miles (321 kilometers) from the storm's center.
Forecasters said the storm was likely to march up the Gulf of Mexico, offshore of Florida's west coast, as a hurricane on Monday, just as the Republican National Convention is scheduled to start. Tampa was within the storm's possible strike zone, but the most likely course would carry it toward landfall on the Florida Panhandle late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
Storm Isaac heads toward Cuba, Florida
