Weather

Reuters - Gaps remain in New Orleans's flood control system despite improvements after Hurricane Katrina, and areas hardest hit three years ago remain vulnerable, a U.S. official said on Thursday as Tropical Storm Gustav headed toward the U.S. Gulf Coast.

AFP - The death toll from Tropical Storm Gustav climbed to 51 in Haiti, officials here said Thursday, two days after the storm slammed into the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Reuters - Tropical Storm Gustav hit Jamaica with near hurricane-force winds and torrential rain on Thursday on a path toward western Cuba that could take it to the Gulf of Mexico oil fields as a strong hurricane next week.

AFP - Tropical Storm Gustav homed in on Jamaica Thursday after claiming some two dozen lives in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with officials here opening emergency shelters and urging coastal residents to head to higher ground.

AP - With Gustav approaching hurricane strength and showing no signs of veering off a track to slam into the Gulf Coast, authorities across the region began laying the groundwork Thursday to get the sick, elderly and poor away from the shoreline.

AP - Weather around the U.S.A.

AP - The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Hanna has formed northeast of the northern Leeward Islands in the Atlantic.

AP - The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay were expected to meander along the East Coast on Thursday, producing showers and thunderstorms from the Ohio Valley through the mid-Atlantic. A cold front was forecast to bring storms to the Midwest, while more monsoonal showers were likely in the Southwest.

AP - Residents, tourists and oil workers fled as Gustav swamped Jamaica on Thursday, leaving 59 people dead in its wake. Louisiana and Texas put their national guards on standby, and New Orleans said a mandatory evacuation might be necessary.