Dennis Floods Haiti And Jamaica

Tropical Storm Dennis built toward hurricane strength Wednesday, flooding roads in Haiti and Jamaica and pushing oil prices sharply higher as it became the second storm to threaten petroleum output in the Gulf of Mexico.

The storm was headed toward Cuba and then the Alabama-Florida border, forecasters said.

Some rural Jamaicans were cut off by floodwaters hours before the storm was to pass, and authorities planned to fly over the affected southeast area in a helicopter to search for stranded islanders.

Dennis came right behind Tropical Storm Cindy, which made landfall late Tuesday in Louisiana and hindered oil production and refining. Traders said that uncertainty over both storms helped to push oil prices to new highs. Crude oil for August delivery rose $1.69 to settle at $61.28 a barrel and establish a new record on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The previous closing high was $60.54 set June 27.

Packing sustained winds near 70 mph, the fourth storm of the Atlantic season could dump up to 10 inches of rain over mountains in its path, including Jamaica's coffee-producing Blue Mountains, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Last year three hurricanes — Frances, Ivan and Jeanne — tore through the Caribbean with a collective ferocity not seen in many years, causing hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in damages.

A hurricane watch was in effect Wednesday at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where some 520 terror suspects are detained. Inside the detention center, the military prepared audio tapes in at least eight languages warning that a storm was coming and heavy steel shutters would be closed on some cell windows, said Col. Mike Bumgarner.

Military officials had no immediate plans to evacuate troops or detainees at Camp Delta, which is about 150 yards from the ocean but was built to withstand winds up to 90 mph, according to Navy Cmdr. Anne Reese, supervisor of camp maintenance and construction.

Power lines could be knocked down and roofs could be damaged on some older, wooden buildings, Reese said.

"It will be bad, but it's not going to be very destructive," she said.

Meteorologist Chris Hennon said the quadrant threatening Haiti "is typically the worst part of the storm" in terms of wind strength and rains.

Haiti took the deadliest hit of last year's hurricane season when Jeanne, at the time a tropical storm, triggered flooding and mudslides: 1,500 people were killed, 900 missing and presumed dead and 200,000 left homeless.

Poverty-stricken Haitians said there was little they could do about the warnings this time.

"It's not only that we don't have money to prepare, we don't have money either to eat. We are willing to stay here and let whatever happens happen," said Martine Louis-Pierre, a 43-year-old mother of three selling fried food on a street of Port-au-Prince.

At 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, the storm was centered about 180 miles from Haiti's south coast and was moving to the west-northwest near 14 mph, the Hurricane Center said. Storm-force winds extended 85 miles.

Private forecaster AccuWeather has the storm tracking into the eastern Gulf of Mexico, with landfall Friday or Saturday on the Florida-Alabama border as a strong Category 2 or Category 3 hurricane, with winds from 96 mph to 130 mph.

Radio stations in Haiti and Jamaica warned people to stay away from rivers that could overflow their banks. Some southern roads in Haiti, which is dangerously deforested, already were blocked by flooding Wednesday.

Six small communities in the eastern Jamaica parish of St. Thomas were also cut off by flood waters, emergency management spokeswoman Nadene Newsome said.

Jamaica's Prime Minister P.J. Patterson abandoned the final day of the annual Caribbean summit in St. Lucia, to rush home. Before leaving, he went on Jamaican national radio to say "I call upon every Jamaican and every community to be prepared ... to protect those who are infirm, the elderly and the young."

Heavy rain and a storm surge flooded low-lying streets along the Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a weakening Tropical Storm Cindy pushed inland, leaving more than a quarter-million homes and businesses from Louisiana to Alabama without electricity.

Cindy's top sustained winds had weakened from 50 mph to 35 mph by midmorning and it was downgraded to a tropical depression. It was expected to continue its decline while pushing through Alabama, said the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Cindy's sustained winds earlier of 70 mph brought squalling rains and heavy downpours, reports Dave Cohen of CBS radio affiliate WWL-AM. Thousands of people were left with no electricity. Throughout metropolitan New Orleans, trees and power lines were down and debris was scattered.

But it was water that caused problems in Mississippi's coastal Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties.

"We have recorded 3 to 4 inches of rain and we have a storm surge of 4 to 6 feet above normal tide. We have a number roads that flooded with rain water that presents a travel hazard," said John Edwards, a spokesman for the Harrison County emergency operations center.

Officials said the high water affected only areas that normally are prone to flooding.

By midmorning Wednesday, officials in Mississippi's coastal counties said water was draining from flooded streets and low-laying areas.

Fishermen returned to boats along the coast Wednesday but were already keeping watch on the next weather system, Tropical Storm Dennis.

Dennis could hit Florida as early as Friday, reports CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan, and forecasters say it could well head back into the Gulf of Mexico and make a beeline for Louisiana and Mississippi early next week.