Hurricane Ernesto Headed for Cuba, Tracking Toward U.S.

Hurricane Ernesto, intensifying and forecast to cross Cuba on Monday and Tuesday, may become the first test of FEMA's "retooled for 2006" hurricane preparedness since Katrina devastated New Orleans and much of the central Gulf Coast just one year ago.

On Sunday morning, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) showed a growing Hurricane Ernesto, with winds topping 75 mph, nearing the southwest peninsula of Haiti and moving toward the northwest at about 9 mph. The storm was reported to be intensifying rapidly and could become a category 2 hurricane before reaching Cuba early Monday morning.

While NCH forecasters stress that it is still far too early to predict exactly where Ernesto will hit the U.S. coast, the 3-day storm track map pointed the storm eerily toward the central Gulf Coast, the same region affected during late last August and early September by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

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Ernesto 3-Day Track Prediction Map