TS Ernesto to Drench Jamaica

Tropical Storm Ernesto pushed toward a brush with Jamaica on Sunday, threatening to dump several inches of rain on the island before drenching the coasts of Honduras, Mexico and Belize.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said that Ernesto was centered about 215 miles (345 kilometers) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, around dawn Sunday. It had maximum sustained winds of about 50 mph (85 kph) and was moving westward at 22 mph (35 kph).

The storm wasn't expected to strengthen much during the day. But it was forecast to gradually begin gaining power Monday in the warm Caribbean waters and possibly reach hurricane strength by Monday evening.

AP

This NOAA satellite image taken Sunday, Aug.... View Full Caption

This NOAA satellite image taken Sunday, Aug. 05, 2012 at 01:45 AM EDT shows Tropical Storm Ernesto continues moving through the Caribbean Sea. This system is now located about 290 miles southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, with maximum winds up to 60 mph. To the north, thunderstorms activity continues for the Bahamas, Florida and into the Carolinas. An area of low pressure over the region has a low chance of tropical cyclone development, but continues producing widespread showers and thunderstorms. (AP Photo/Weather Underground) Close

Forecasters said Ernesto was on a course likely to take it south of the Cayman Islands on Monday, just north of Honduras on Tuesday and then over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula by Wednesday.

With forecasters predicting possible rains of up to three to six inches in Jamaica, islanders stood in long lines at grocery stores in the island's capital of Kingston to buy bottled water, bread and canned goods.

"We're going to have heavy rains, so I'm stocking up," said Marco Brown, a Kingston resident in his late 50s.

The Jamaican government ordered fishermen on outlying cays to evacuate and move to the main island.

The hurricane center said Jamaicans should brace for tropical storm conditions beginning Sunday afternoon. Occasionally heavy showers and thunderstorms also were possible over the Dominican Republic and Haiti, it said.

Elsewhere, Tropical Storm Florence, which formed recently far out in the Atlantic, had stopped strengthening early Sunday, forecasters said.

Florence had top sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph) and is 680 miles (1,090 kilometers) west of the Cape Verde Islands. But the forecasters said the storm was expected to begin strengthening anew in the next day or so.