ARTICLE - TROPICAL STORM TOMAS THREAT

TOMAS, TEMPORARILY WEAKER, STILL POSES MAJOR THREAT FOR HAITI
(Miami Herald) - By Jacqueline Charles and Curtis Morgan

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- A day after President René Préval traveled by helicopter and road to the southern and western coasts to assess hurricane preparations, Haiti stepped by evacuation plans for Tropical Storm Tomas.

The system, though slightly weaker on Tuesday, was expected to return to hurricane strength over the next few days as it turns north toward Jamaica and Haiti.

``Since 2004, we have been getting hit by hurricanes,'' Préval told The Miami Herald by phone Monday as he left the southwestern city of Les Cayes and headed to Jeremie on Haiti's western tip.

``This is why we started early, to make sure there are no deaths. We are doing everything we can to make sure there are none.''

At 5 p.m. Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said Tomas had weakened during the day, its sustained winds dropping to 40 mph, but it remained on a track that could sweep uncomfortably close to Jamaica on Thursday and strike the southwestern tip of Haiti the next day. The Jamaican government issued a hurricane watch.

John Cangialosi, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in West Miami-Dade, said the powerful center of the storm could shift significantly to the east toward Jamaica or west toward the Dominican Republic before it makes landfall.

Despite the weakening on Tuesday, forecasters still expected the storm to regain hurricane strength and, at the very least, dump a lot of rain on an island with denuded hillsides prone to dangerous, sometimes deadly flooding and mud slides.

FLOODING FEAR
In Haiti, however, wind speeds won't be as critical as rainfall totals. The center warned of a ``significant threat of heavy rainfall.''

Flooding from Hurricanes Hanna and Ike in 2008 killed more than 800 people and the four hurricanes that hit Haiti that year left $1 billion in damage. A tropical deluge also could overwhelm efforts to contain an outbreak of cholera, caused by drinking contaminated water, that already has killed more than 300 people.

Meeting with authorities from the surrounding vulnerable regions around Les Cayes in southwestern Haiti, Préval asked for an inventory of needs, announced that a fleet of government vehicles including evacuation buses and heavy earth-moving equipment were already on site and that shelters had been identified. The health ministry was evaluating the possibility of evacuating patients at the government-run hospital, which is prone to flooding.

``We are trying to get everyone to work together,'' Préval said. ``We began with the South, but we are not certain that is where it will do the most damage.''

Still, the southern coast's largest city -- and Haiti's fourth largest, Les Cayes -- is vulnerable to floods even with normal rainfall.

``Once a hurricane hits us, we are in a mess,'' said Pierre Leger, a Les Cayes businessman, recalling how twice in two years mud burried the city of Gonaives after hurricanes.

``We have two canals -- one on the left, one on the right. They are blocked with trash, there are houses built on them. What happened to Gonaives could happen to us.''

On Monday, U.S. officials announced that the USS Iwo Jima was on its way to Haiti. The ship, which can support helicopters, is scheduled to arrive later this week.

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the government was calling on people in the South to evacuate if the storm poses a dangerous threat. But even as officials planned for potential disaster, concerns remained.

A recent survey of hundreds of tent cities in Port-au-Prince revealed that only 30 percent of the displaced had a place to move into, and officials were still trying to identify potential buildings that can shelter people.

``We are making buses available to evacuate people in the camps, like children. But when we say evacuate, the question is where do we take them,'' Bellerive told The Miami Herald.

As officials plan for the storm, they continue to deal with the cholera epidemic. On Monday, a government official confirmed a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that the cholera strain found in Haiti matched strains commonly seen in South Asia. The U.N. has denied that Nepalese soldiers at a base in the city of Mirebalais, in Central Haiti, are responsible for the outbreak.

Since the epidemic began in Haiti's lower Artibonite Valley two weeks ago, Haitian officials have been fighting to keep it from spreading. Humanitarian aid officials say rain and floods make for a ``toxic combination'' for the spread of the waterborne infection.

``This storm could not have come at a more difficult time,'' Humanitarian Coordinator Nigel Fisher said. ``Although we have made extensive preparations and prepositioned stocks across the country, some crucial supplies have been badly depleted by ongoing needs, particularly the response to the ongoing cholera epidemic.''

The U.N. has appealed to donors seeking emergency shelter, including tarps, water, sanitation supplies and oral rehydration salts for cholera treatment.

Meanwhile, Haiti's neighbors were also preparing for Tomas. The Dominican Republic closed beaches along its southern and eastern coasts as the Emergency Operation Center warned residents to brace for 9- to 12-foot waves within the next 24-72 hours. The country's Ministry of Health also issued an infectious disease warning, saying that swollen rivers and lakes could lead to a rise in illnesses.

IN JAMAICA
Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding held an emergency meeting with his cabinet Monday and was expected to address the nation later Monday. The Meteorological Service said the country could feel the outer bands of the storm on Thursday or Friday, with periods of heavy rain and strong winds as it passes east of the island.

The government also advised fishing fleets to return to the mainland.

The storm has already been blamed for anywhere from three to 12 deaths in the eastern Caribbean, where Tomas raked across Barbados before gaining strength to hit St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a Category 1 hurricane.

The Caribbean Disaster Management Agency said the storm killed at least three people in St. Lucia, injured two in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and damaged hundreds of homes and dozens of government buildings throughout the region.

St. Lucia Tourism Minister Allan Chastanet, however, said there were at least 12 confirmed dead, the Caribbean Media Corporation reported.