By Stevenson Jacobs
Associated Press
Monday, August 28, 2006

LES CAYES, Haiti, Aug. 27 -- Ernesto became the first hurricane of the Atlantic season Sunday, then weakened to a tropical storm as it lashed Haiti's southern coast with heavy rain and flooded homes in the impoverished country.

The storm was projected to regain strength as it steamed toward Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico, and forecasters said it could again reach hurricane force before striking Cuba on Monday morning.

Cuba ramped up emergency preparations and forecasters said the storm would be close to the island's southeastern coast Monday morning, with a brief return to hurricane force possible.

"We do expect it to reach the Gulf, maybe as a Category 1 hurricane, possibly a Category 2," said John Cangialosi, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Hurricane Center. "We expect it to be a significant system as it moves over Florida."

It was uncertain where Ernesto would make landfall as it moved toward the Gulf Coast, but the storm did not appear to pose a threat to New Orleans, forecasters said. Hurricane Katrina, a Category 3 storm, devastated the city a year ago Tuesday.

"It's difficult to say where it will be, but in three days we're projecting it anywhere from the eastern Gulf near the Florida Panhandle to the western Bahamas," Cangialosi said.

By late Sunday night, Ernesto's winds slowed to near 50 mph, down from 75 mph earlier in the day when it became the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, according to the hurricane center.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush declared an emergency, ordering tourists to evacuate the Florida Keys.

"It's on a track toward the Florida Peninsula early this week, and all of Florida is in the area that's being threatened, from the Keys all the way up to the panhandle," said Michael Brennan, a meteorologist at the hurricane center.

Ernesto was moving northwest at 7 mph on Sunday night. It passed near the tip of Haiti's southwestern peninsula in the afternoon. Forecasters said as much as 20 inches of rain could fall in some mountain areas, raising fears of flash floods in the heavily deforested country.

Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of Haiti's civil protection agency, said by telephone that one person on Vache island off Haiti's south coast died in the storm.

In Cuba, the government issued a hurricane warning for six eastern provinces. The hurricane was predicted to lose strength while crossing west-central Cuba late Monday but emerge in the Gulf of Mexico with winds up to 110 mph.

Heavy rain and winds were expected in southern Florida by early Tuesday. In Key West, officials told visitors to head for the mainland and ordered travel trailers and recreational vehicles to leave. The low-lying Keys are connected to one another and the mainland by one highway, U.S. Highway 1.

At 11 p.m., Ernesto, the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was centered near the western tip of Haiti about 115 miles south-southeast of Guantanamo, Cuba.