Fears of a hurricane have prompted the US state of Louisiana to declare a state of emergency and New Orleans to prepare plans for evacuation.
Tropical storm Gustav, downgraded from a hurricane, has Oil price rises on hurricane fear ...
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Residents have boarded up homes as weather forecasters warn that the storm could return to hurricane strength.
Gustav is expected to head towards the US, but it not clear where it will hit.
Oil workers in the Gulf Coast were being evacuated from oil rigs.
Oil prices on trading markets rose amid forecasts that by Sunday Gustav could again be a hurricane and threaten oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico.
A hurricane watch remains in place for Jamaica and Cuba. See map of the region
In Cuba, ex-President Fidel Castro issued an essay mentioning the hurricane and pledging that the government in Havana "guarantees no-one will be forgotten".
At 2000 local time (0000 GMT) the centre of the storm was 100km (65 miles) south of Guantanamo, Cuba, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
With maximum winds of 75km/h (45mph), it is moving west at about 11 Km/h (7mph) and is expected to increase in speed within the next 24 hours.
The centre warns that once Gustav moves further from Haiti it could regain hurricane strength. The storms is also expected to produce heavy rainfall, up to 25 inches in some places, over Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica and the Caymans, the forecasters said.
"These rains will likely produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides," they warned.
Louisiana and New Orleans, in the US, were making their own preparations ahead of Gustav's arrival.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard.
New Orleans has started planning a possible mandatory evacuation, hoping to prevent the chaos it saw after Hurricane Katrina, which struck the city three years ago on Friday.
Gustav is the seventh tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
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(BBC)
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