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Ernesto grew into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season 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.

Cuba issued a hurricane warning for its eastern provinces and residents were told to prepare for the approaching storm, which had 120 kph winds as it swept through the Caribbean Sea just off the south coast of Haiti.

Forecasters said Ernesto could become a Category 2 hurricane with 158 kph winds in the Gulf, home to a quarter of US oil and gas production, and its most likely path would take it ashore on Florida's west coast on Thursday.

The storm promised more misery for Florida, which has endured eight hurricanes in the past two years.

The hurricane was about 185 kilometers southwest of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, at 11 AM (15:00 GMT) Sunday. It was moving northwest at about 15 kph and was expected to be near the southeastern coast of Cuba on Monday morning.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the southern coast of Haiti. Forecasters said up to 30 centimeters of rain and even up to 50 centimeters in isolated areas could fall on the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has been virtually stripped of trees in recent decades, making it vulnerable to deadly floods. Tropical Storm Jeanne killed about 3,000 people two years ago when its rains triggered mudslides in and around the city of Gonaives.
 
The Miami-based hurricane centre 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 55 to 177 kph and can cause moderate damage.

It was likely to weaken over Cuba and regroup after it emerges off the northern coast of the island, forecasters said. The official intensity forecast had Ernesto as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds near 160 kph in the Gulf.

"However, Ernesto could approach Category 3 status prior to the projected landfall in western Florida," the hurricane center said in a statement.

Forecasters also shifted Ernesto's most likely track slightly to the east. That path would see it strike the US coast at Tampa on Thursday morning and emerge in the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast early on Friday.

(China Daily August 28, 2006)