Caribbean nations are bracing for another major storm, Hurricane Ike, coming just days after Tropical Storm Hanna passed through the region.
Ike has weakened slightly, but its winds are still travelling at up to 110mph (175km/h) as it nears the Turks and Caicos islands and the Bahamas.
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Haitian officials have said that at least 500 people have been found dead as floodwaters caused by Hanna recede.
That storm has hit the US south-east coast and is dropping torrential rain on North and South Carolina.
Storm warnings are in force along the Atlantic coast from Georgia to New Jersey.
'Major hurricane'
Hurricane Ike gained strength to Category Three on the Saffir Simpson scale - a "major hurricane" - after weakening slightly earlier on Saturday, said the Florida-based National Hurricane Center (NHC).
As of 1800 GMT, Ike was tracking west south-west, moving at 15mph about 135 miles (215km) east of Grand Turk Island.
The NHC said the storm was expected to pass near or over the Turks and Caicos islands and the south-eastern Bahamas late on Saturday or early Sunday.
After Hanna pummelled the low-lying Turks and Caicos, a British territory to the north of Haiti, earlier in the week, many residents and visitors decided to leave.
Authorities decided to close the airport in Providenciales at mid-day on Saturday.
Ike should hit the northern coast of eastern Cuba by late Sunday or early Monday, according to the NHC forecast, putting the crumbling colonial buildings of the capital, Havana, at risk.
A storm surge of up to 12ft (3.6m) is expected along with "large and dangerous battering waves" and heavy rainfall, the NHC said.
The centre of the hurricane is forecast to pass to the north of Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.
But Haiti, already reeling from three major storms in as many weeks, will not be spared, with up to 12in (30cm) of rain due to fall.
As floodwaters caused by Tropical Storm Hanna receded, Haitian officials said more than 500 people had been killed.
Hurricane Gustav last week and Tropical Storm Fay two weeks ago killed about 120 people.
Hardest hit by Hanna was the city of Gonaives, which was flooded with up to 16ft of water that has only now begun to recede.
The devastation there has been described as catastrophic.
Police said 500 people were confirmed dead but that others are still missing and the number could rise higher.
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said hundreds of thousands of people had been displaced by the flooding.
The WFP has begun distributing food aid but a spokesperson said the scale of the disaster was putting their resources to the test.
Other aid workers say people's spirits are running low after the successive storms.
"Food supplies and water are scarce and the price of the food that's left is rising," said Parnell Denis from Oxfam in Gonaives.
"The morale of people staying in the shelters is so very low; I am afraid to tell them that another storm is on its way."
More bad weather will hamper the aid effort even further.
In the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, there have been no reports of major damage.
However, preparations are under way for the arrival of Hurricane Ike.
"The ground is saturated and some of the dams in the south-east region are fairly close to their maximum capacity," said meteorological official Gloria Ceballos.
Civil defence director Colonel Juan Manuel Mendez said Dominican troops had been put on alert.
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(BBC)
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