Fay churns along Cuban coast near Bay of Pigs
Tropical Storm Fay, which killed at least 57 people in Caribbean countries over the weekend, moved slowly on Monday along Cuba's southwestern coast, where it was expected to make landfall before heading to Florida as a possible hurricane.
Vatican broaches Cuba prisoners with Raul CastroCuba's Meteorological Institute said the storm's northwesterly movement had slowed to 10 miles per hour (16 km per hour) and was passing about 45 miles (72 km) to the south-southeast of Playa Giron, also known as the Bay of Pigs, site of the failed 1961 U.S.-backed invasion to topple then-Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
The institute said landfall was expected around dawn.
Cuban officials ordered evacuations ahead of Fay, including low-lying parts of Havana, fearing that heavy rains and a storm surge could flood the Cuban capital and cause dilapidated buildings to collapse.
In the Florida Keys, tourists fleeing Fay, the sixth storm of the Atlantic cyclone season, created bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway out of the islands at the state's tip.
Cuba had earlier evacuated people along its southeastern and central coasts as Fay slid along, brushing the area with the winds and rain it now carries inland.
In Haiti, officials said about 50 people died when a bus tried to cross a river swollen by rain from Fay. Five others were known dead in Haiti and the Dominican Republic from flood-related accidents.
Jamaica said a middle-aged couple died in the capital, Kingston, when their car was caught in a flooded crossing.
Fay hit Cuba with 50 mph (80 kph) winds and could drop as much as eight inches (203 mm) of rain as it crosses the island on a northward path, forecasters said.
It was expected to reach the Florida Straits later on Monday, where the U.S. National Hurricane Centre said it would strengthen in the warm waters. It could hit the state and as a hurricane, which has minimum winds of 74 mph (119 kph).
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