MIAMI: Tropical Storm Isaac strengthened over the Caribbean on Wednesday, threatening to slam into impoverished Haiti -- still reeling from a devastating 2010 earthquake -- and Cuba, US forecasters said.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center projected that Isaac would become a hurricane on Thursday and make landfall Saturday near the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in southern Cuba.
A hurricane warning has been issued for all of Haiti, often hit by disastrous floods and mudslides, as well as for most of the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.
"Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," the NHC said.
The storm, packing gusts of up to 45 miles (72 kilometers) per hour, was moving over the eastern Caribbean Sea and located about 270 miles southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the NHC said in its 0300 GMT bulletin.
Isaac was expected to dump up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain over Hispaniola, spelling trouble for the 400,000 Haitians still huddled in makeshift slums more than two years after the nation's disastrous earthquake.
"These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the NHC warned, noting that Isaac was moving westward at 20 miles per hour.
The storm forced the US military at Guantanamo to delay hearings for the five alleged plotters of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Commanders at the base have made hurricane preparations.
The NHC said the storm could strike Florida as early as Monday, when the US Republican National Convention opens in Tampa.
Meteorologists, however, have cautioned that it is too early to accurately predict Isaac's path and said it is unlikely to disrupt the convention.
Thousands of Republicans will be in Tampa for four days during which former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney will be formally nominated to challenge President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.
A hurricane watch for Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands was discontinued.
But a tropical storm warning was in effect through much of the Leeward Islands, including Dominica, Sint Maarten, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat and Anguilla, Saba and Saint Eustatius.
Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra, the British Virgin Islands and the US Virgin Islands were also under a tropical storm warning, as well as much of the northern coast of the Dominican Republic.
The government of the Bahamas has issued a tropical storm watch for the southeastern Bahamas, including the Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Cay, the Inaguas, Mayaguana and the Ragged Islands, as well as for the Turks and Caicos Islands.
"For residents in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands who may be affected... it's critical that you take this storm seriously and take steps now to prepare your families, homes and businesses," US Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said in a statement.
FEMA has deployed teams to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to work with local officials on how to manage their response to any potential disaster.
Coming on the heels of Isaac, was another tropical depression -- to be named Joyce if gains tropical storm strength -- that formed over the eastern tropical Atlantic, the NHC said. It was located 1,045 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands.
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