Storms swirl in Atlantic, floods hit Haiti

NASSAU (Reuters) - Heavy rains flooded a Haitian town with head-high water on Tuesday, killing at least 14 people, as Tropical Storm Hanna swirled over the Bahamas and took aim at the U.S. southeast.

A new tropical storm, Josephine, formed off Africa, behind Tropical Storm Ike. Both were moving westward just as Hurricane Gustav began to dissipate after slamming into the U.S. Gulf Coast near New Orleans.

The flurry of Atlantic storms underscored predictions for a busier than normal hurricane season and was worrisome news for U.S. oil and natural gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico, millions of people living in the Caribbean and on U.S. coasts, and farmers fearing flooded fields.

The U.S. government has forecast 14 to 18 tropical storms will form during the six-month season that began on June 1, more than the historical average of 10. Josephine was already the 10th, forming before the statistical peak of the season on September 10.

By early Tuesday afternoon, Hanna was bearing down on Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas with 70 mph (110 kph) winds, just short of a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Hanna dumped torrential rains on the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos island, where emergency officials warned of high seas and possible flooding.

In Haiti, heavy rains caused severe flooding in the northern port city of Gonaives, where thousands of people died four years ago during a similar catastrophe.

"The city is flooded and there are parts where the water gets to 2 meters (6.5 feet)," said civil protection director Alta Jean-Baptiste. "A lot of people have been climbing onto the tops of their houses since last night to escape the flooding."

Authorities said at least 12 people were killed in Gonaives and two died in the nearby town of Gros Morne.

FLORIDA EMERGENCY

Hanna, expected to regain hurricane strength in about 36 hours, was likely to turn to the northwest and come ashore on the U.S. East Coast at the end of the week somewhere between northern Florida and the Carolinas.

Although the official forecast kept it over water as it skirted the Florida coast, state Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency.

Tropical Storm Ike headed west after forming on Monday between Africa and the Caribbean and appeared likely to become a hurricane that would threaten the Caribbean islands and possibly the United States.

It was too early to say where Ike might go but the storm drew the attention of energy companies running the 4,000 offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico that provide the United States with a quarter of its crude oil and 15 percent of its natural gas.

Ike was about 1,110 miles east of the Leeward Islands and moving west at 18 mph (30 kph) late on Tuesday morning. Its top sustained winds had strengthened to 60 mph (95 kph) and were expected to reach hurricane strength of 74 mph (119 kph) by Wednesday.

Josephine formed over the far eastern Atlantic about 125 miles south-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. It was moving west at 15 mph (24 kph), with top sustained winds of near 40 mph (65 kph), and was expected to be near hurricane strength on Wednesday or Thursday.

(Writing by Tom Brown; editing by Michael Christie and John O'Callaghan)