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Haitians in a relocation camp gather near a red flag warning of an impending storm. Tropical Storm Tomas may hit Haiti Friday.
Miami, Florida -- Tropical Storm Tomas churned in the southern Caribbean on its way toward a possible early Friday morning landfall on the western edge of earthquake-devastated Haiti, forecasters said.
Haiti is under a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch, while Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas have issued tropical storm watches. A tropical storm watch is also in effect for Jamaica.
Watches mean storm conditions are possible with the watch area, usually within 48 hours. Warnings mean storm conditions are expected within the warning area within 36 hours.
The official National Hurricane Center forecast track shows that Tomas is likely to make landfall in southwestern Haiti around 1 a.m. Friday as a tropical storm, which would mean sustained winds between 39 mph (63 kph) and 73 mph (117 kph), with higher gusts. But, they said, the storm may be approaching hurricane strength -- 74 mph (118 kph) -- by that time.
Public health officials are concerned because of a cholera outbreak in Haiti that has killed more than 300 people and could worsen with the coming storm.
Tomas could dump enough rain for accumulations of 5 to 10 inches -- isolated amounts of up to 15 inches -- over much of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, some of which could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, the hurricane center said.
Haiti's president and prime minister held an emergency Cabinet meeting to discuss evacuations of coastal communities, the United Nations said Wednesday.
And the United States has deployed the amphibious naval ship Iwo Jima to provide humanitarian support, the U.S. Southern Command said.
Tomas hit the West Indies island of St. Lucia as a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday morning and caused major damage by the time its winds subsided Monday night.
At least 12 people died in the storm, according to St. Lucian Prime Minister Stephenson King.
November hurricanes are rare, CNN meteorologist Bonnie Schneider said. The Atlantic hurricane season ends November 30.
