A hurricane warning has been issued for the coast of southwestern Florida as Tropical Storm Fay approaches.
The warning includes areas from Flamingo to Anna Maria Island.
The storm has already killed at least five — and possibly as many as 35 — people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Forecasters said they expect Fay to be near hurricane strength when it reaches the Florida Keys later Monday.
A Haitian lawmaker said Monday that at least 30 people are feared to have died aboard a bus that tried to cross a river flooded by Tropical Storm Fay.
Fay had previously been blamed for five other deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Deputy Arcluche Louis-Juene said a bus carrying 43 people was swept away trying to cross the Riviere Glace on Haiti’s southern peninsula on Sunday.
“Only 13 people have been found,” Louis-Juene, who represents the Grand Anse department where the accident happened, told Radio Vision 2000.
U.N. peacekeepers could not immediately confirm the accident and Haitian civil protection officials could not be reached early Monday.
Fay, the sixth storm of the Atlantic season, was moving over Cuba on Monday morning.
There was light rain Monday morning in Key West, Fla., as city workers cleared sidewalks of newspaper stands ahead of Fay.
Forecasters said it could become a Category 1 or 2 hurricane by the time it gets close to the Florida Keys on Monday night. It was moving northwest at about 12 mph.
Schools in the Keys were closed Monday and were scheduled to be closed again Tuesday as the storm passes by.
A tropical storm warning and hurricane watch are posted for the Keys from Ocean Reef to Key West. A hurricane watch remains in effect along Florida’s west coast to Tarpon Springs.
Early Monday, a tropical storm warning was issued for Florida’s east coast from Jupiter Inlet southward and along Florida’s west coast from Bonita Beach southward, including Lake Okeechobee. It has been extended northward to Cocoa Beach.
So far, there hasn’t been much of a rush to get out of town, and many people were simply ignoring a mandatory evacuation order for visitors.
Aside from wind damage, most of the islands sit at sea level and could see some limited flooding from the storm surge.
The storm has been churning the waters off the southern coast of Cuba, lashing the island with heavy rains and winds.
State media reported little damage or major flooding, but a hurricane warning is in effect for Havana and eastward.
Nearly 5,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying communities. Fishing boats have been pulled out of the water, and temporary shelters and food distribution centers have been set up.
As of late Sunday, Fay was about 105 miles southeast of Havana — and about 155 miles south-southeast of Key West, Fla. — with top sustained winds holding at about 50 mph.
Isolated tornadoes are possible across the southern Florida peninsula Monday. The storm is also expected to dump as much as 10 inches on the area. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has declared a state of emergency.
Storm Dampens Campaigns
The approach of Tropical Storm Fay was affecting the campaign schedules of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama in the key state of Florida.
McCain got a storm briefing near Orlando on Sunday and said Floridians will “be in our thoughts and prayers.”
The Republican has been critical of the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina but has said no state is better prepared to deal with a big storm and its aftermath.
McCain canceled a Miami fundraiser Sunday night out of what he called an “overabundance of caution.” He was scheduled to speak to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Orlando on Monday.
Obama was scheduled to address the VFW on Tuesday. The Democrat’s campaign canceled events on Sunday in Fort Myers, Clearwater and Tampa.
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