Tropical Storm Grace heads to Leeward Islands, no warning for Trinidad and Tobago

ALREADY reeling from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake early on Saturday morning, Haiti could be in the path of Tropical Storm Grace. A release from the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service said Grace was formed from tropical depression seven and was located approximately 675 km east of the Leeward Islands.

Grace is moving westward at approximately 35 km/hr. The Met Service said the storm is projected to move toward the west or west-northwest with a gradual decrease in forward speed over the next few days.

It said a storm warning was in effect for

Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, St Kitts and Nevis, and Montserrat

Saba and Sint Eustatius

Sint Maarten

St Martin and St Barthelemy

US Virgin Islands

Puerto Rico, including Vieques and Culebra.

The British Virgin Islands in under a storm watch, but TT faces no threat from the storm, the Met Office said.

A report on the Weather Channel on Saturday said Tropical Storm Grace will approach the northern Lesser Antilles on Saturday night. It will bring gusty winds and rain to many of the Caribbean islands.

The Weather Channel report said Grace could follow the same path near the Greater Antilles as Tropical Storm Fred which deteriorated to a tropical depression as it approached the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The one projected track for Grace will take the storm on a course through Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Bahamas, before it affects southern Florida in the United States.

On Friday, Florida braced for rains associated with tropical depression Fred which was expected to regain tropical storm status.