Port-au-Prince/Kingston/Washington - Tropical Storm Gustav reached hurricane strength Friday, with sustained winds of up to 120 kilometres per hour, as it sped towards Cuba and the US Gulf Coast. "The centre of Gustav will pass near or over the Cayman Islands later today (Friday), over the western portions of Cuba on Saturday and into the southern Gulf of Mexico on Sunday," the Miami-based US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said.
"Gustav could become a major hurricane before reaching western Cuba," the statement said, warning of heavy rains leading to "life- threatening flash floods and mud slides."
US authorities expressed concern that the storm could hit the states of Louisiana and Mississippi with full force, three years after the devastating hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
President George W Bush on Friday declared a state of emergency in Louisiana, while other states from Texas to Florida were preparing for the possible landfall of a major hurricane.
In Haiti, the toll from storm-related deaths rose to 70, the country's civil defence authorities said Friday. However, many people remained missing and the figure was likely to rise.
Eight people were killed in the neighbouring Dominican Republic, authorities said.
Jamaica was expecting heavy rains and strong winds to persist as Gustav moved away from the island. People had stocked up on food and emergency survival kits, and authorities opened emergency shelters, although no fatalities were reported.
"It is total devastation everywhere. Several residents are now crammed into disaster shelters here in east Portland, and the weather continues to make the situation worse," councillor Alston Hunter told the Jamaica Gleaner.
Close to 43 per cent of the country was without power Friday.
Cuba was also bracing for the hurricane. Cuban Defence Council president Pedro Saez Montejo said "not one minute can be wasted" and called for a "decisive participation of citizens" in the effort to clean up drains and rooftops and to trim trees that could fall on power lines, local media reported.
The Cuban Meteorology Institute predicted Gustav would hit the island as a category 2 or 3 hurricane.
Gustav was expected to reach the US coast early next week, raising fears of devastation on the same scale caused in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, which ripped through New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast in the state and neighbouring Mississippi, leaving more than 1,800 people dead. Authorities have stressed that advances have been made in disaster response plans and in repairing levees since Katrina.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said it would close its Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans at midnight on Saturday because of the anticipated landfall of Gustav. Michoud provides vital support to NASA's exploration and discovery missions.
Oil producers, including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc, evacuated workers from platforms in the Gulf region, according to Bloomberg financial news. Most of the US oil and gas platforms and pipelines are located in the waters south of Louisiana and east of Texas.
While Gustav will not reach St Paul, Minnesota - location of the Republican Party Convention that starts Monday - a potential landfall along the Gulf Coast will impact proceedings, even delaying the convention more than 1,900 kilometres to the north of New Orleans, Republican officials told CNN.
Bush was severely criticized for attending political events after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc in New Orleans. He is to speak at the convention on Monday.
