MIAMI – Briefly a hurricane and predicted to regain that status, Tropical Storm Jeanne struck the Dominican Republic Thursday and seemed likely to move through the Bahamas and close enough to Florida to arouse some concern.
Meanwhile, another tropical depression formed in the distant Atlantic. Forecasters said it would remain far out to sea and not endanger land.
Jeanne was expected to move through the Bahamas, approaching Nassau on Sunday as a Category 1 hurricane and coming uncomfortably close to South Florida. Forecasters said it should veer north before reaching the U.S. mainland, pointed generally toward the Carolinas, but that was uncertain.
“Any system that is within striking range should be monitored,” said forecaster James Franklin of the National Hurricane Center in West Miami-Dade County.
He said Jeanne’s fate depends on the future course of Ivan and the atmospheric wake it leaves behind.
“We can’t be certain for three, four, five days what the evolution is going to be,” he said. “The uncertainity of this forecast is higher than most.”
Jeanne grew into a hurricane Thursday morning but diminished to a tropical storm Thursday afternoon as it passed over the Dominican Republic’s eastern and northern provinces.
“We are beginning to feel the strong winds, and the rain has intensified,” said Miledys Puente, 67, of San Pedro de Macoris on the southern coast. “But we’ve lost contact with all news because authorities shut down electricity.”
Forecasters said Jeanne was expected to regain hurricane strength after it leaves the island and returns to the nourishing warm water. It was and will be the sixth hurricane of this very active season. Earlier this week, it killed two people in Puerto Rico and dropped voluminous rain there, triggering widespread floods.c 2004, The Miami Herald.

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