Haitians Flee as Tropical Storm Gustav Threatens

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitians were told to prepare for evacuations as Tropical Storm Gustav formed quickly yesterday in the Caribbean on a path to hit — as a hurricane — the country's denuded southern coast before moving on to Cuba.

Haiti upgraded storm warnings to hurricane warnings along much of its coast yesterday as Gustav closed in from the south. The cyclone was traveling northwest at about 12 mph.

By yesterday evening, reports from an Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicated that top sustained winds had already reached nearly 60 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Forecasters said Gustav's center could pass near or over Haiti today.

Floods and landslides were possible across Haiti's southern peninsula, and the forecasts suggested the eye could pass very closely to the capital of Port-au-Prince, home to nearly 3 million people. Yesterday evening, the storm was centered about 165 miles south-southeast of Port-au-Prince.

Carnival Cruise Lines diverted one of its ships to a Mexican port instead of Montego Bay, Jamaica, to avoid the storm, company spokesman Vance Gulliksen said. Other cruise lines said they were closely tracking the storm's path.