Tropical Storm Isaac bore down on Haiti's southern peninsula early Saturday, threatening a city prone to flooding and dousing other areas of the poor nation still trying to recover from the terrible 2010 earthquake.
The storm swirled past the southern coast of the neighboring Dominican Republic on Friday, dropping heavy rain on that country and on Haiti. Forecasts put it on a path over eastern Cuba and on to the Gulf of Mexico, with it still posing a potential threat to Florida as a hurricane just as the Republicans gather for their national convention.
Forecasters said Isaac could dump as much as eight to 12 inches (30 centimeters) and even up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) on Hispaniola, which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as well as produce a storm surge of up to 3 feet (0.9 meters).
There was a potential for deadly flash floods and mudslides in Haiti because so much of the country is deforested. Tropical storms in the past have killed thousands.
"That kind of rain is going to cause some life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the U.S. Hurricane Center in Miami.
Communications in Haiti are often spotty and there were no official reports of any damage by late Friday.
AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery
Government and international aid groups in Haiti's capital had been prepared on Friday to evacuate several thousand people from settlement camps that sprang up after the 2010 earthquake. But the main threat appeared aimed at Les Cayes, a city of about 45,000 people on the southwestern coast that is prone to flooding during heavy rain.
Isaac was centered about 55 miles (85 km) south-southwest of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, late Friday, and its maximum sustained winds had increased to 70 mph (110 kph). It was moving west at 13 mph (2 kph). Tropical force winds extended nearly 200 miles (321 kilometers) from the storm's center.
Cuba declared a state of alert Friday for six eastern provinces, according to a Civil Defense announcement read on the afternoon news, and five central provinces were put on preliminary watch. Vacationers in tourist installations of those regions were evacuated.
Radio Baracoa, from the city of Baracoa on the northern coast of eastern Cuba, reported that high seas began topping the city's seawall Friday night. Reports said lower than normal rains had left reservoirs well below capacity and in good shape to absorb runoff.
Cuba has a highly organized civil defense system that goes door-to-door to enforce evacuations of at-risk areas, largely averting casualties from storms even when they cause major flooding and significant damage to crops.
In Port-au-Prince, a city of some 3 million ringed by mountains, people went to work as usual Friday, but commercial banks closed at noon and some residents took precautions as the sky darkened, rain fell and the wind picked up.
"Just in case this gets very bad — the sky is turning gray — I'm making sure we have enough food in the house," 25-year-old Joanne Dorville said as she carried home rice, sardines, black beans and cooking oil that she bought at a street market.
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