HURRICANE TOMAS HITS SOUTHEAST CARIBBEAN, ON TRACK FOR HAITI

Hurricane Tomas formed in the southeast Caribbean at the weekend and strengthened into a category 2 storm, prompting tropical storm warnings in Barbados, St Vincent, the Grenadines, Martinique, Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago before weakening on Sunday. The storm downed power lines and damaged some homes in Barbados and St Lucia on Saturday. By yesterday, all tropical storm warnings in the Caribbean were lifted. Late Sunday, Tomas was centred 215 miles northeast of Curacao, tracking west at 15 mph with sustained winds of 65 mph and had been downgraded to a tropical storm, the US National Hurricane said. Forecasters expect Tomas to weaken further into Tuesday and veer to the north, reaching Haiti later this week after strengthening again into a hurricane. The NHC's latest model shows the storm passing near the earthquake-ravaged capital of Port Au Prince, where hundreds of thousands of people are huddled in improvised shelters.