NU Online News Service, Nov. 2, 3:07 p.m. EDT

Caribbean islands hit by the storm Tomas--which reachedhurricane status over the weekend before weakening to a tropicalstorm--are expected to sustain less than $100 million in economicdamages, catastrophe modeler EQECAT said.

Tomas, the 19th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season,formed Oct. 29 and strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane beforehitting St. Vincent and St. Lucia over the weekend.

EQECAT noted that wind shear caused Tomas to weaken to atropical storm by late Sunday.

As of 11:00 EDT today, Tomas was about 355 miles south of PortAu Prince, Haiti, moving west at around 10 miles per hour,according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The NHC forecastcalls for some strengthening over the next 48 hours, with the stormpossibly becoming a hurricane again on Wednesday.

The five-day forecast shows the storm gradually turning northand moving toward Haiti as a hurricane by the end of the week.

Yesterday, catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide said Tomas'formation as far south as Grenada this late in the year is"unprecedented."