Tropical Storm Isaac took aim at the Dominican Republic

It could become a hurricane

Tropical Storm Isaac took aim at the Dominican Republic and Haiti Thursday and it was expected to gain strength after drenching tiny islands in its whirl over the eastern entrance to the Caribbean. There was a chance it could dump rain on next week’s Republican convention in Florida.

No major damage was reported, but authorities in Puerto Rico said an elderly woman died in an accident while preparing for the storm.

U.S. forecasters said Isaac was likely to approach Hispaniola, the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, as a hurricane late Thursday or early Friday after intensifying over the warm waters of the Caribbean. It was predicted to move on to Cuba as a tropical storm, then perhaps head by Monday to Florida, where the Republicans will be gathering to nominate Mitt Romney for the presidency.

In the eastern Caribbean, many seafront bars and restaurants remained open Wednesday night as lightning and thunder crackled and choppy surf slapped against piers and seawalls.

The storm was 225 miles (360 kilometers) south-southeast of Puerto Rico, early Thursday, with maximum sustained winds near 40 mph (65 kph). Isaac was moving west near 13 mph (21 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

At the bar of the Fort Young Hotel in Dominica’s coastal capital of Roseau, a few tourists and locals drank cold beer and chatted over the sound of white-crested waves outside.

“The skies were very black and cloudy most of the day, but it’s been pretty quiet so far. Some rain, very little wind”, bartender Raymond Reynolds said Wednesday at the 71-room hotel on the jagged, densely forested island. “We’ve been through this before”.

In the Dominican Republic, authorities banned boats from entering its waters and warned of heavy rains from Thursday through Saturday.

Dominican Republic Live, 23.08.12, 11.15am

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