Haiti wants major camp evacuated ahead of storm

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — It was the jewel of Haiti's post-earthquake recovery: an organized relocation camp with thousands of tents billed as hurricane-resistant, lined up in neat rows on graded mountain soil.

Now, staring down a possible hit later this week from a hurricane, officials say Corail-Cesselesse is not safe. On Tuesday, the government advised the estimated 7,850 residents of its primary relocation camp to ride out the storm somewhere else.

"We're asking people in Corail to voluntarily move from where they are and go to the houses of family or friends. The places the government has identified are churches and schools that are available for shelter from the storm," Haiti civil protection official Abel Nazaire told The Associated Press.

Camp managers held a "loudspeaker meeting" with megaphones to tell residents about the evacuation order, said Bryant Castro, the American Refugee Committee staffer managing the camp. Residents were told to seek any home they could find and were expected to start leaving as soon as Wednesday.

A hurricane over the weekend, Tomas weakened to a tropical depression Wednesday with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph (55 kph).

The National Hurricane Center in Miami projected it to reach Haiti by Friday after brushing past Jamaica, but it was no longer expected to regain hurricane force, though that was still possible.

"This short-term trend is sort of baffling at this point," said Dave Roberts, hurricane specialist at center. "We expected it to at least maintain tropical storm strength, but it really has weakened considerably."

The disorganized depression was located about 390 miles (630 kilometers) southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and moving west-northwest near 6 mph (9 kph).

Forecasters said Tomas was likely to strengthen over the next 48 hours, and could regain hurricane strength by Friday. A tropical storm watch was issued for Jamaica, and the center said the storm could dump up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain over much of Haiti.

"The models are still suggesting that this system will re-intensify later tonight or into the Thursday-Friday time frame as it approaches the Windward Passage, Haiti coastline," Roberts said early Wednesday.

Tomas has already killed at least 14 people and left seven missing in the eastern Caribbean nation of St. Lucia, where it caused more than $37 million in damage. In nearby St. Vincent, the storm wrecked more than 1,200 homes and caused nearly $24 million in damages to crops, especially bananas — one of St. Vincent's top commodities.