Tropical Storm Cindy flooded streets and cut power to thousands of people in Louisiana and Mississippi today, while Tropical Storm Dennis increased strength and threatened Haiti and Jamaica. Dennis is expected to become a major hurricane, with winds in excess of 177 kilometers per hour (kph), and the National Hurricane Center predicted the storm would move toward key oil and natural-gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico before hitting northwestern Florida on Monday. The Caribbean storm was about 400 kilometers south-southeast of Haiti at 1200 GMT, and was moving toward the west-northwest at 26 kph, the Miami-based hurricane center said. Dennis gained strength, with sustained winds of 105 kph, and is likely to become a hurricane later today, forecasters said. The storm is expected to drop 10 to 15 centimeters of rain on the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Last year, heavy rains brought by tropical storms and hurricanes devastated Haiti, which is largely deforested due to its extreme poverty. Meanwhile, Cindy hit the central Louisiana coast with sustained winds of 112 kph, just short of the 119 kph needed to achieve hurricane status. The storm downed power lines and snapped trees in the streets of New Orleans. About 250,000 people are without power but should regain power by Thursday, the local energy company said. Flood watches were posted throughout southeastern Louisiana, where up to 25 centimeters of rain were forecast.
