Tropical storm losing strength as it nears Florida

By David Adams
Tropical Storm Erika was soaking Haiti with heavy rain and strong winds on Saturday as it swirled across the Caribbean but showed signs of losing steam as it headed toward south Florida, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said.
Twenty people were confirmed dead on the island of Dominica, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in an address carried on television and online late Friday. Rescuers were still searching for others reported missing.
Erika was no longer forecast to make landfall in the United States as a hurricane due to some likely weakening over mountainous areas of Haiti and Cuba. Instead, it could lose tropical storm strength by Saturday, with winds falling below 40 miles per hour (64 kph) as it moves over eastern Cuba, although “very heavy rainfall” was a concern.
“The forecast intensity has been significantly changed to show a much weaker cyclone,” the hurricane centre said in a Friday evening advisory.
Erika could regain intensity over the Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico if it survives the mountains, the NHC said.
“We’re not quite prepared to rule out tropical storm impacts in Florida,” it said.
Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency on Friday, noting the storm could travel “up the spine of Florida” from Sunday into next week.
Scott said the Tampa area on Florida’s Gulf Coast was a major flood concern due to saturation from rain this month.
Forecasters have described Erika, the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, as unusually hard to predict due to disruption from wind patterns and interaction with land, which weakens a storm, as well as warm water, which adds energy.
Meteorologist Jeff Masters said the mountainous island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, “has saved us so many times in the past,” thanks to its 10,000-feet peaks.
“It’s probably saved thousands of lives in South Florida over the years,” he said.
However, heavy rain over impoverished Haiti’s eroded hillsides, with up to 10 inches possible in some areas, could cause “life-threatening flash floods and mudslides,” the Miami-based NHC said.
Erika’s sustained winds dropped to 45 mph as it moved over Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, on Friday night, the NHC said.
Dominica in the eastern Caribbean was the worst-affected island so far. The prime minister said swollen rivers and rain-triggered landslides had swept away homes, roads and bridges.
Some communities were cut off on the small, mountainous island with a population of about 72,000.
Skerrit said 20 people had died and several others were still missing. He described the destruction as “monumental.”
On the other side of the American continent, Hurricane Ignacio was churning across the Pacific on Friday on a path that could take it past Hawaii in coming days, with a second, more powerful storm trailing in its wake, the National Hurricane Centre said.
Though the track of Ignacio remains uncertain, the Category 1 hurricane, at the low end of the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity, was heading northwest and “continues to get closer to Hawaii”, the government forecaster said.
Ignacio was centered about 720 miles east of Hilo and 935 miles east of Honolulu on Friday evening. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour.
A coastal storm watch could be issued for the Hawaiian islands early on Saturday, the center said. Maui and the island of Hawaii could feel the effects of Hurricane Ignacio as early as Monday or Tuesday, according to current predictions, said Tom Bichard, Central Pacific Hurricane Centre forecaster.
“It is still within the potential impact area,” he said.
“…But a lot can change between now and then.”
Hawaii officials urged residents to prepare in the event the storm hits the island early next week. Governor David Ige signed an emergency proclamation on Friday freeing up funds for disaster relief and allowing the suspension of certain laws that could impede “emergency functions”.
Jimena, a second storm forming behind Ignacio, strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane on Friday with winds of 125 mph that could become a Category 5 by Saturday.
Jimena was moving west at 12 miles per hour around 1,190 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. “It’s close enough for us to be concerned,” Bichard said.

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