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 Twenty people were confirmed dead on the island of Dominica, Prime
Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in an address carried on television
and online late Friday. Rescuers were still searching for others
reported missing.
Erika was no longer forecast to make landfall in the United States
as a hurricane due to some likely weakening over mountainous areas
of Haiti and Cuba. Instead, it could lose tropical storm strength by
Saturday, with winds falling below 40 miles per hour (64 kph) as it
moves over eastern Cuba, although "very heavy rainfall" was a
concern.
"The forecast intensity has been significantly changed to show a
much weaker cyclone," the hurricane center said in a Friday evening
advisory.
Erika could regain intensity over the Straits of Florida and the
Gulf of Mexico if it survives the mountains, the NHC said.
"We're not quite prepared to rule out tropical storm impacts in
Florida," it said.
Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency on Friday,
noting the storm could travel "up the spine of Florida" from Sunday
into next week.
Scott said the Tampa area on Florida's Gulf Coast was a major flood
concern due to saturation from rain this month.
Forecasters have described Erika, the fifth named storm of the
Atlantic hurricane season, as unusually hard to predict due to
disruption from wind patterns and interaction with land, which
weakens a storm, as well as warm water, which adds energy.
Meteorologist Jeff Masters said the mountainous island of
Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, "has
saved us so many times in the past," thanks to its 10,000-feet
(3,000-meter) peaks.
"It's probably saved thousands of lives in South Florida over the
years," he said.
However, heavy rain over impoverished Haiti's eroded hillsides, with
up to 10 inches (25 cm) possible in some areas, could cause
"life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the Miami-based NHC
said.
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Erika's sustained winds dropped to 45 mph (72 kph) as it moved over
Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, on Friday night, the NHC said.
Haiti's government warned those who live by ravines, rivers and the
coast to use extreme caution if they go outdoors. Mayors and local
authorities were told to open schools and public buildings as
makeshift shelters.
Dominica in the eastern Caribbean was the worst-affected island so
far. The prime minister said swollen rivers and rain-triggered
landslides had swept away homes, roads and bridges.
Some communities were cut off on the small, mountainous island with
a population of about 72,000.
Skerrit said 20 people had died and several others were still
missing. He described the destruction as "monumental."
(Additonal reporting by Bill Cotterell in Tallahassee; Peter Granitz
in Port-au-Prince; Roberta Rampton in Washington and Victoria
Cavaliere in Los Angeles; Editing by G Crosse, James Dalgleish and
Lisa Shumaker)
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