In preparation of the arrival of Hurricane Tomas, whose trajectory could turn to the north (according to some forecast models) and hit Haiti on Friday afternoon, with heavy rains and winds up to 160 km/h (hurricane Category 2), the authorities asked the hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in tent camps, to begin the evacuation, encouraging them to travel to the homes of family or friends. An evacuation may be complicated by the presence of the cholera epidemic in the Artibonite and plateau Central.

"We have launched an appeal for voluntary evacuation, particularly in the camps," said Alta Jean-Baptiste, the director of the Haiti's Civil Protection Office "We have plans to evacuate the camps but we won't be able to evacuate everybody."

Nadia Lochard, the coordinator for civil protection, said authorities were showing camp dwellers how to properly tie up their tents before evacuating. She said that rains and strong winds predicted for the region south of the country could potentially affect Port-au-Prince.

The hurricane is currently about 420 km (262 miles west of St Lucia), and moves westward at a speed of 19km/h (12mph), indicates the National Hurricane Center of Miami. Recall that the 2010 hurricane season had already produced 12 hurricanes, including five dangerous, but that Haiti, so far, has been spared.

The trajectories of hurricanes are often capricious in the next 48 hours modeling should provide us more details.

See also:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-1553-haiti-climate-orange-alert-tomas-a-hurricane-potentially-dangerous.html

HL/ HaitiLibre