Tropical storm hits coast of Cuba

BREAKING STORM NEWS: CUBA
Aug 28, 2006
Tropical Storm Ernesto has hit Cuba after battering the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where it killed one person.
By the time Ernesto made landfall on Cuba's southeast coast early on Monday, it had weakened to 45mph (75km/h).
But forecasters said Ernesto could regain hurricane status before reaching Florida late Tuesday or Wednesday.
The Cuban authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of people in the east of the country and Florida Governor Jeb Bush has declared a state of emergency.
Nasa cancelled Tuesday's planned space shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida and was deciding whether to move the orbiter indoors because of the approaching storm.
Evacuation order
Tourists have been ordered to leave the Florida Keys island chain south of the US state.
«It certainly looks like it's going to impact a significant portion of Florida before it's all over,» said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Heavy rains, floods and mudslides are a significant threat for the Dominican Republic, Haiti and eastern Cuba, the NHC said in an advisory issued at 1200 GMT on Monday.
It said the centre of the storm was located on the coast of south-eastern Cuba, about 20 miles (30 kilometres) west of Guantanamo. {PHOTO ABOVE: People watch the strong waves produced by Tropical Storm Ernesto in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Saturday, August 26, 2006}

Click Image at Left to View Video on Projected Path of Ernesto

READ: New Path Shows Ernesto Bringing Damaging Winds To Central Fla.
The latest projected path of Ernesto shows the storm strengthening into a Category 1 hurricane after leaving Cuba and making landfall in Florida on Wednesday, according to Local 6 meteorologist Tom Sorrells.
The storm is expected to come across Cuba and it could come out as not much, Sorrells said. However, on its current path the storm would move through Central Florida.