Tropical Storm Noel turns northward toward Florida
MIAMI, Oct 31 (Reuters) - A weakened Tropical Storm Noel on Wednesday began to turn north while dumping heavy rain over Cuba and appeared likely to strengthen slightly over Atlantic waters as it moved initially toward Florida and then over the Bahamas.
The storm, which killed at least 29 people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti after sending floods surging through streets and hillsides and trees crashing down on houses, was located around 65 miles (105 km) north-northwest of the Cuban city of Camaguey by 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), U.S. forecasters said.
Noel was moving to the north-northwest at around 6 miles per hour (9 km per hour) with 40 mph (65 kph) winds, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
"A turn toward the north is expected later today. The center of Noel is expected to emerge off the north coast of Cuba during the next few hours, and reach the northwestern Bahamas tonight," the Miami-based center said.
The storm began drenching the island of Hispaniola, shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, over the weekend and left thousands of people without power and swathes of the two countries awash in muddy water.
At least 18 people died in Haiti, an impoverished country which has lost most of its forests to environmental degradation. Two people were still missing, said the director of the Civil Protection Office, Alta Jean-Baptiste.
"Up to now, we have counted 18 bodies, but the death toll could be more significant," Jean-Baptiste told Reuters.
About 3,400 people were staying in emergency shelters set up by the Haitian government and around 400 houses had been destroyed.
In the Dominican Republic, 11 people were confirmed dead and 13 were missing but there were unconfirmed reports of at least 25 dead.
Cuba, which has an effective civil protection system in place, reported no deaths on Tuesday. But reservoirs overflowed in already rain-drenched parts of eastern Cuba and thousands of people were evacuated from vulnerable areas.
Torrential rain was also already falling over parts of the Bahamas.
The 14th named storm of the 2007 Atlantic storm season was not expected to strengthen significantly on its way toward southeast Florida.
Computer models indicated it was likely to be caught up in strong westerlies before it reached Florida and to be taken increasingly rapidly northeastward over the Bahamas. (Additional reporting by Joseph Guyler Delva in Port-au-Prince)
