• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 08 / 04 / 2011

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By Conor Sullivan and Brian K. Sullivan - Aug 4, 2011 11:37 AM GMT-0400.Tropical Storm Emily is expected to drench Haiti and the Dominican Republic as it moves on a course that may skirt the east coast of Florida this weekend, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Emily, with top winds of 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour, was 90 miles south of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and moving west- northwest at 5 mph, according to an advisory posted by the center before 11 a.m. in Miami. The center of the storm will cross Haiti today, bringing heavy rain and severe flooding to the island of Hispaniola, where the Dominican Republic is also located. Storm force winds extend for 115 miles to the north and east of the center.

“The south-facing sides of those mountains in Haiti and the Dominican Republic will receive upwards to two feet of rain,” said Paul Walker, a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania. “It is not a big wind storm but it is a big rainmaker.”

Warnings remain in effect for the southern coast of Hispaniola from Cabo Engano to the southern border of Haiti, the northern coast from Cabo Francis Viejo to the northern border of Haiti and Haiti itself.

Storm Warnings

Warnings have also been issued for the eastern Cuban provinces of Guantanamo and Holguin, the south and central Bahamas, and

the Turks and Caicos islands. A tropical storm watch is in effect for the northwestern islands of the Bahamas.

In the Pacific, Hurricane Eugene’s top winds weakened to 120 mph from 140 mph yesterday, making it a Category 3 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

It was 720 miles southwest of Baja California’s southern tip, moving west-northwest at 14 mph.

“It is just going to be a fish storm, so it is not going to be a problem,” Walker said.

A low-pressure system over the Pacific about 670 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California has a 20 percent chance of a becoming a tropical cyclone in the next two days, the center said.

Source: www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-03/tropical-storm-emily-may-strengthen-th...