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Subscribe to RSSFlorida's governor declares a state of emergency as residents and tourists flee Key West. Storm preparations are under way all along the Gulf Coast. NBC's Thanh Truong reports.
Updated at 6 p.m. ET: Tropical Storm Isaac was hugging the northern coastline of eastern Cuba on Saturday after claiming at least four lives in Haiti. Isaac should become a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday just as it nears the Florida Keys, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, and then grow into an even stronger Category 2 storm with 100 mph winds.
Isaac "could be significantly stronger than currently forecast" once it enters the Gulf of Mexico, the center said in an advisory.
It will first sweep past southwest Florida and the Florida Keys, where "hurricane conditions are expected ... Sunday," it said in a separate update.
Republicans effectively cancel first day of convention
Isaac is a massive storm, with tropical storm-force winds extending 230 miles from the center. Key West International Airport was halting all flights at 7 p.m. Saturday until the storm had passed.
Tropical Storm Isaac is picking up steam as it barrels through the Caribbean. The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel reports on the storm's effects.
In Haiti, a woman and a child in the town of Souvenance were killed in the storm, a local official reported. A woman in the southern coastal city of Jacmel was crushed to death when a tree fell on her house, government officials said.
In the capital Port-au-Prince -- where some 350,000 people are still living in tents or shelters after the 2010 Haiti earthquake -- a girl, 10, was killed when a wall fell on her.
Power outages and flooding were reported as Isaac moved across the hilly and severely deforested Caribbean country.
"There's a lot of rain, a lot of wind," said Magdala Jean-Baptiste, who huddled with her frightened children in their home in the southern coastal city of Jacmel. "We haven't had any power since the storm started yesterday. We passed the night with no sleep."
Tropical Storm Isaac lashes the island of Hispaniola, killing at least three people in Haiti, where thousands still live in tents after an earthquake over two years ago. NBC's Mark Potter reports.
In neighboring Dominican Republic, Isaac felled power and phone lines and left at least a dozen towns cut off by flood waters. The most severe damage was reported along the south coast, including the capital Santo Domingo, where more than half the city was without power.
Cuba prepared by closing beaches and evacuating tourists in vulnerable areas, NBC's Mary Murray and The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel reported from Havana. Flights across Cuba were also suspended.
In Baracoa, a city on Cuba's eastern side, high seas began topping the seawall Friday night, Radio Baracoa reported.
Now with 60-mph winds, Isaac should exit Cuba on Sunday and then move south of the Florida Keys and into the Gulf.
Dieu Nalio Chery / AP
Residents wade through a flooded street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Saturday.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Saturday declared a state of emergency to make sure local and state agencies would be ready. Republicans effectively canceled the first day of their national convention in Tampa, on Florida's central Gulf Coast, deciding to gavel it open on Monday, then immediately recess to some time on Tuesday.
Gulf of Mexico operators began shutting down offshore oil and gas rigs on Friday ahead of the storm.
Follow Isaac's path with our storm tracker
Live updates and analysis from weather.com
Tampa's weather forecast includes rain and high winds Sunday night and into Monday, The Weather Channel reported. The winds could gust up to 60 mph.
The Weather Channel's Bryan Norcross tracks Tropical Storm Isaac's movement and predictions about where it is headed.
Monday and Tuesday include a risk of tornadoes across south Florida.
Officials were handing out sandbags to residents in the Tampa area, which often floods when heavy rainstorms hit. Sandbags also were being handed out in Homestead, 20 years after Hurricane Andrew devastated the community there. Otherwise, however, convention preparations were moving ahead as usual.
Isaac's exact path is still unclear, but the hurricane center said models suggest it will make landfall somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and New Orleans on Tuesday night.
The storm's anticipated path did shift closer to the Keys than previously forecast and emergency managers urged tourists to leave the islands if they could do so safely. A single road links the chain of islands to the Florida Peninsula.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Walter Michot / AP
Tropical Storm Isaac rakes the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba as it makes its way toward Florida, where Tampa will be hosting the Republican National Convention.
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Leave a Comment:
God is sending Hurricane Isaac to wash away the lies & deceit that romney is spreading in tampa. Quit now romney before you make a bigger fool of yourself. The repubs sold Ron Paul out and nominated a flip floppin liar and handed this election to Obama. Obama 2012, thanks to the cheating, hate-filled republicans.
I expected a bunch of libs to turn this into an anti-republican tirade, and I sure wasn't disappointed! Two questions come to mind, however. First, why do so many of you libs have to write a book every time you post? Keep it short and to the point! Second, have any of you thought about the great job this storm will do of keeping away all the lib protesters (can you say occupy?) You'd better make those signs out of something waterproof!!!
We "libs" have enough sense to come in out of the rain. And better sense than to put our convention in Florida in the very middle of hurricane season. (Charlotte is 200 miles inland... we MIGHT get some rain, which we need.)
Short enough for ya?
God would stop sending down his wrath on Haiti if they would stop practicing voodoo religeon.
The liberals are very busy trying to get picture ID's for their constituency. Cause da man up and took der drivers license away as a way of trying to keep dem down.
Wow! What a sad bunch of idiots from both parties!. How does one go from an article about a hurricane and deaths and get such hatred from someone with opposing political views?
No hate. Hate is a waste of the spirit.
You are wrong, hate is the second most powerful force on earth and has accomplished a great deal. Just saying.
Big Al, I've always wondered how they're going to get picture ID's for dead people!
Yeah, I don't know their procedure on that. It's probably the same way they get social security cards for undocumented citizens. I love that classification. Undocumented citizens.
And in other news, prison planet dot com shows the cops shooting the nine people in new york city yesterday after the gunman killed his loser boss. those pigs should be fired forever, they can't hit the side of a barn, or did they shoot people on purpose. I know, I know, the dimwits will jump in to defend the pigs as only doing their jobs. Keep believing that.
I probably shouldn't bother to tell you this alex, but all the cities where the cops are really out of hand are run by libs.
People from Florida are as dense as lead. Here's lesson one....Build with brick and rebar, so we (the rest of America) no longer have to pay for your stupidity. Oh ya and get a helmet law too.
Would a helmet law have prevented your obvious brain damage?
Newsflash cybermars: The majority of new homes, including hi-rises, ARE built w/ Concrete & rebar! I know, I worked in residential & commercial construction for the majority of the eight yrs I lived in Florida (central Gulf Coast). However, not even these materials (including bricks) are 100% safe & effective against a Cat 5 hurricane ('tho most of the window & door glass is). Most damage is actually the result of flooding more than wind, depending on the size & strength of the storm. However, on the 'flip side of the coin', let's not forget all those "one percenters" who whine & complain abt flooding & sand erosion near their beachfront 'MacMansions' in the Hamptons & elsewhere that the Federal & State governments frequently step in to rescue.
Maybe Isaac has been sent to target Casey Anthony.
Come on Isaac... Blow those God fearing Republicans right off the map....
Blow, something I'm sure you know a lot about!
Meanwhile, there are human beings of every race, creed, and social class waiting to see whether they will be struck directly or side-swiped by a massive storm following the recent hits on many other people. Ahhh the lip-service of political rhetoric - I guess it's one way to spend a Saturday . . .
Wow, I clicked to read comments on the hurricane, and all I get is people bashing each other's political views. I'm sure there's another place to do that.
Our prayers and love go out the the poor people of Haiti, as those who have lost so much in the recent past, have lost what little remains for them and their devistated country.
What's the old saying? God don't like ugly...should be fun to watch the repubs scramble for cover...
Hey Sarah why weren't you invited?
Sarah was invited, you weren't!
BTW, the ones scrambling for cover will be the occupy protesters!
Republican TeaBilly Conservatives are just like a “Major Hurricane”. They are a Major Disaster, Cause Fear, Panic, Chaos, Misery and Destroy anything good in their Paths.
Does your mom know you're playing on the computer again?
Hey!!! Good response from dozens but I'm not a Democrat and I still think that if this storm carries away all teabaggers and the richest Rethuglicans we should re-name it Our Savior and thank God for it!! If you think about it for one second: the Rethuglicans are the climate change deniers because it permits them to continue carrying on activities that pollute our planet and increase global warming, now they have to eat their own sh*t, I love it!! I hope they are the only victims!!
Not a Democrat? You could have fooled me since you sound just like Maxine Waters! Can we assume then, that you're just crazy?
It's funny that all my well-to-do Republican friends admit that they are all socially liberal - i.e. prochoice, procontraception, proAffordable Health Care Act, pro gay marriage, etc. but the only reason they are voting for Romney is that he is looking out for the wealthy. They have admitted that it's all about lowering their taxes and they think that the social conservatives are making waves about nothing and making the Republican Party look bad.
Oh and they all agree that climate change exists!
Didn't your mom teach you that it's not right to make things up? Go play with your imaginary republican friends!
The republicans are competent politicians. I'm sure they will have this convention despite the risk and figure out how to capitalize on the resulting chaos. They are very good at causing disaster then gaining benefit.
Obama is old news about a bad mistake-time to move on.
Wrath of god on the Republicans? Holding breath for Pat Robertson pronouncement.
WOW. This hurricane is going to hit Tampa right as the Repukicans are having their convention. As many of them like to say, it's God's wrath for something they've done. Probably EVERYTHING they've done over the past 12 years. Or maybe to prevent all of them from going to the Tampa titty bars. That's more than likely what bums them out the most.
If you are for Obama, you are not for America!!! By the way, this is a story about a potentially devastating storm, not Republicans vs. Democrats.
Saw a comment somewhere that the Democrats decided years ago not to hold their conventions in Florida, since they fall during hurricane season. Did the Republicans think they are immune to natural disasters?
Nope, the Republicans just aren't sissys like the Democrats!
I have so much to say,but it really doesnt matter.The problem is I let America down.The Constatution didnt say Frank.It said, We The People...........
headline!!!!!! hurricane isaac forces millions of knee-grows to finally take a bath.... thousands attempt to flee on mopeds, but all is in vain, as they bitterly find out that mopeds have no roof......world knee-grow feed for free organization declares dredlock disaster of nationwide proportion.... al sharpton calls for mass rioting......homosexuals call for solidarity.....