Hurricane weakens as it sweeps across Haiti

Tropical Storm Gustav was weakening this morning as it moved through the Caribbean, a day after hitting Haiti as a hurricane.

But the storm could regain hurricane strength later today or tomorrow once it clears Haiti, the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami warned.

By 2am local time (7am Irish Time) today, Gustav’s maximum sustained winds had decreased to 60mph. The storm was centred about 80 miles west of Port-au-Prince.

As a hurricane, Gustav caused a fatal landslide and dumped torrential rains on southern Haiti yesterday before weakening to a tropical storm.

Rising water threatened Haiti’s crops amid protests over high food prices, and oil prices rose on fears the storm could batter oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

The storm lingered into the night over Haiti’s poor, deforested southern peninsula, and water levels were rising in banana, bean and vegetable fields.

One man was killed in a landslide in the mountain town of Benet.

Cars pushed through standing water in the streets of Port-au-Prince, as fallen trees and landslides blocked a major road out of the capital.

Hundreds of people in coastal Les Cayes ignored government warnings to seek shelter, instead throwing rocks to protest at the high cost of living in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. Witnesses said UN peacekeepers used tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Haiti is a tinderbox because of soaring food prices, which in April led to deadly protests and the ousting of the nation’s prime minister.

Forecasters said Gustav could become a Category 2 hurricane with winds topping 96 mph tomorrow as it moves between Cuba and Jamaica.

After Haiti, a strengthening Gustav was projected to sideswipe Cuba’s southern coastline all week before entering the central gulf on Sunday.

Jamaica and the Cayman Islands were under hurricane watches.

Forecasters were reluctant to predict the storm’s path beyond the weekend, the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

They said the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be spared a direct hit. Base spokesman Bruce Lloyd said the base was preparing for emergencies in any case.