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[video]http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2010/11/05/exp.nr.haiti.tomas.cnn[/video]
Port-Au-Prince, Haiti -- Hurricane Tomas could unleash more rain on Haiti and the Dominican Republic as it moves farther away from Hispaniola this weekend.
By late Friday, the storm's center was about 35 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of Great Inagua island in the Bahamas, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. Tomas was moving northeast at about 13 mph (20 kph), carrying maximum sustained winds of about 75 mph (120 kph).
A hurricane warning is in effect for Haiti, the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Hurricane Center said.
Already devastated this year by a killer earthquake and a deadly cholera outbreak, Haiti braced for Hurricane Tomas, which could dump up to 15 inches of rain and trigger flash floods and mudslides.
Earlier Friday, Tomas had passed within about 140 miles (230 kilometers) of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.
In the westernmost tip of Haiti, which juts into the Caribbean Sea, there were reports from the town of Jeremie of destroyed houses, downed trees and flooded rivers, said Francois Desruisseaux, an emergency team leader with CARE in Haiti.
Desruisseaux also said CARE workers near the coastal city of Leogane reported the area had been inundated with several feet of water. Downtown streets turned into rivers, he said.
"We were expecting something perhaps a little larger, but it's still quite significant," Desruisseaux said about the hurricane, adding that rescue teams throughout Haiti are still working to assess the damage. "In the capital so far, we've been relatively lucky, all things considered."
The threat of ongoing rain remains real, as does the possibility of the spread of waterborne diseases, Desruisseaux said.
Relief worker Roseann Dennery of Samaritan's Purse was near Cabaret, about 20 miles north of Port-au-Prince, on Friday morning, touring camps that hold some of the 1 million people left homeless by January's 7.0-magnitude earthquake, which killed some 250,000 people.
"It's almost eerie," she said. "It's rainy, it's dark, and there's really not a lot of movement."
The few people moving from tent to tent were wrapped in sheets and cloth to provide some protection against the constant rain, she said. The ground was soaked, and some low-lying areas had minor flooding.
Some people rode out the storm in open-air community centers with supposedly sturdy roofs, she said. But many just huddled in their tents, waiting for the wind and rain to pass. Most didn't have anywhere else to go.
"A lot of them do not have families or relatives," Dennery said.
Many structures that would usually be used for storm shelters -- schools and hospitals -- are no longer standing.
Michael Dockrey, the director in Haiti for the International Medical Corps, also expressed concern Friday, particularly with mudslides "that can cut off whole communities.
"We have pre-positioned medical supplies, tents, tarps and staff in areas that we know will be isolated," he said.
Aid workers already were struggling to keep up with the cholera outbreak, which has killed nearly 450 people and hospitalized about 7,000. The bacterial disease causes diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to deadly dehydration within hours.
"It's obviously stretched us all real thin," Dockrey said. "We could certainly use more help ... as can all the other responders."
The effects of Tomas could worsen an already dire situation.
"It may exacerbate the epidemic, facilitating the spread of the disease into and throughout metropolitan Port-au-Prince, where a third of the population remains homeless and in camps," the International Organization for Migration said.
The Hurricane Center said Tomas could leave a total of 5 to 10 inches of rain in much of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with up to 15 inches in isolated areas.
"These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides over mountainous terrain," the weather agency said. "Rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches are possible over the central and southern Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Puerto Rico."
Higuey, in the Dominican Republic, has already seen more than 10 inches of rain within 24 hours, the Hurricane Center said.
Tomas is forecast to weaken into a tropical storm late Saturday.
Port-au-Prince is bounded on three sides by hills, and rain runoff could cause flooding, CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf said. The low-lying port city also borders the Caribbean Sea.
As it did after the earthquake, the United States offered its assistance.
The U.S. Agency for International Development had pre-positioned supplies, but rushed more into the country before the airport closed ahead of the storm, said Mark Ward, acting director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. He said the Haitian government has confirmed one fatality.
The U.S. Navy redirected the USS Iwo Jima to Haiti from Suriname, where the ship's crew was conducting a four-month humanitarian mission.
In addition to weakening, Tomas is forecast to churn northeast over open water the Atlantic Ocean by the end of this weekend.
