As Tropical Storm Fay began fading, Gustav, a new hurricane, hit Haiti and the Caribbean region with heavy rains.

Gustav was a tropical storm yesterday afternoon and strengthened into the season's third hurricane with sustained winds approaching 90 mph, a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The storm is expected to dump up to 20 inches of rain on some isolated areas.

Gustav was expected to cross over the south of Cuba by Saturday into Sunday before heading into the Gulf of Mexico. Current forecasts have the storm moving anywhere from Florida to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, gaining strength after passing Cuba.

Neena Saith, catastrophe response manager at Risk Management Solutions, noted that Gustav is expected to bring four-to-seven inches of rain to regions of Haiti already soaked by 15 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Fay and to trigger more flashfloods and landsides.

Conditions for Gustav to intensify and become a major hurricane over the next five days are very good, said Steve E. Smith, president of Property Solutions, Carvill ReAdvisory. Given the storm's forecast track, he said Gustav is a long-range threat to the U.S. coast with potential for landfall sometime next week anywhere along the Gulf Coast from Texas to the Florida Panhandle.

Peter Dailey, director of atmospheric science for AIR Worldwide, said Gustav's rapid intensification has left little time for evacuation.

He compared Gustav to Hurricane Hazel in 1954 that hit Haiti with winds of 100 mph, killing as many as 1,000 people and wiping out 50 percent of that nation's coffee and cocoa trees. That event led to widespread deforestation that has continued unabated with increasing threats of fatal mudslides and floods.

One major question, he noted, is to what extent Haiti's mountains will disrupt the system. However, Mr. Dailey noted that the National Hurricane Center's forecast calls for Gustav to become a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher) by the time it reaches the Gulf on Saturday or Sunday.

The eye of Hurricane Gustav made landfall on Haiti shortly after 1 p.m., the National Weather Service said.

Fay, now a tropical depression, is moving slowly northeast into northern Alabama with rains felt as far north as North Carolina, west to Tennessee and south into the Florida Panhandle. Flash flood warnings remained in effect as the storm was expected to weaken, but continue bringing heavy rains through the Appalachian Mountains into Pennsylvania. The storm is supplying much needed rain in parts of Georgia and Tennessee along with other parts of the region. Tornados remain a threat.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation sent out an updated list of the state's four largest insurers of personal lines insurance, totaling more than 12,000 claims. State Farm's figures remained unchanged from yesterday with 4,649 homeowners claims, 1,021 auto claims and 571 National Flood Insurance Program claims.

Homeowners claims for the state's residual insurer, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., now stand at 2,436. Universal Property Casualty is at 1,204 homeowners claims.

Rounding out the figures, USAA homeowners claims stand at 1,722, auto at 230, and NFIP at 185.

Allstate–the state's second largest insurer, according to Highline Data, a Summit Business Media Company which also owns National Underwriter–has not publicly reported its claims, the regulator said. State Farm is the top carrier, according to Highline Data, which does not include Citizens in the figures because it is a residual market insurer.

(This story was updated at 4:06 p.m.)

Special Reports /

Storm Fay Brings Relief To Drought-Stricken South

Related Stories

Recommended For You