Tropical Storm Ernesto Reaches Caribbean
Josephine Roque - All Headline News Staff Writer San Juan, Puerto Rico (AHN) - Tropical Storm Ernesto is now in the Caribbean and headed toward Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it could grow to be the first hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic season. Ernesto was expected to reach hurricane strength early next week and to enter the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday or Wednesday but it was too soon to predict whether it would hit the United States, Robbie Berg, a forecaster with the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, told the AP "At this early stage, the message we want to send to people is not to panic but to watch it," said Jamie Rhome, another specialist at the hurricane center. Jamaica is directly in in the storm's way and has announced a tropical storm watch, likewise Haiti issued a tropical storm watch for its southern coast. The storm follows a course and will reach Jamaica on Sunday afternoon. The Cayman Islands government advised residents to monitor the storm's track. "The essential message to the public is to continue to monitor the system carefully, listen to local media," said Education Minister Alden McLaughlin. At 5 p.m. Friday, Ernesto gained maximum sustained winds at almost 40 mph. It is the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Ernesto was centered 300 miles south-southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and 660 miles east-southeast of Kingst |
