PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Tropical Storm Noel formed over the Caribbean Sunday and forecasters warned the slow-moving system could send flash floods gushing down stripped hills in Haiti before it heads on to Cuba.
The strengthening storm poses a serious threat to impoverished Haiti, which is still recovering from floods that killed at least 37 and sent more than 4,000 people to shelters earlier this month.
Noel, the 14th named storm of the Atlantic season, had sustained winds of about 60 mph and was expected to strengthen further, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
At this point the storm is not forecast to reach hurricane strength, but it is forecast to head directly through the center of the Bahamas and right over Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. My sister's family just embarked on a 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise that is supposed to spend a day at Castaway Cay on Friday. I hope it's still there.
And, I hope they packed their Dramamine.
I was in a hurricane once and it was bad enough riding it out on land. I don't think I'd want to do it on a cruise ship.
As this hurricane season comes to a close we can now safely say that for the second year in row the hurricane season has been a bust as far as the global warming crowd is concerned. After Katrina we were all told that hurricane season from then on would be a littany of terror and yet only one weak hurricane made landfall in the U.S. this year, and none hit the U.S. in 2006. A couple of monsters were born this year but stayed south of the U.S. and posed no problems for the Gulf States. Even the usually reliable forecasters were forced to revise their numbers downward several times during the season.
Darn that global warming...
UPDATE: Noel might become a hurricane after all.
UPDATE 2: Noel hits the Bahamas with 60 mph winds.
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