Ernesto is weak over Florida but still a threat

MIAMI, Aug 30 (Reuters) Tropical Storm Ernesto packed little punch after coming ashore in Florida as a rainstorm instead of a dreaded hurricane, but forecasters today said it could still pose a threat to the U.S. mainland.

Ernesto, the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season's fifth storm, could regain some strength after it emerges off northeast Florida and curves back into land between North and South Carolina later this week, the US National Hurricane Center said.

Ernesto failed to revive as expected over the warm waters of the Florida Straits after bashing Cuba and limped into Miami and the Florida Keys, where residents had lined up at gas stations, emptied stores of batteries and filled sandbags in anticipation of a more powerful storm.

''Ernesto could weaken to a tropical depression later today,'' the hurricane center said in an advisory.

State officials had declared a state of emergency in Florida as the storm approached. Tourists were ordered out of the low-lying Florida Keys, courts and schools were closed, some airlines canceled flights and ports were shut.

But surfers took advantage of big waves off Miami Beach, some restaurants and bars stayed open in tourist areas and the lights stayed on across most of the region. Wind gusts of only 48-64 kph were reported in the Miami area.

There were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries, although local media reported two traffic fatalities on rain-slicked roads.

It was a far cry from encounters with hurricanes Wilma and Katrina last year, the latter of which killed about 1,500 people and caused billion in damage.

Katrina caused more than 500 million dollars in insured losses in the Miami area before hitting the Gulf Coast. Wilma knocked out power to more than 90 percent of Florida's residents and the damage toll on the peninsula reached billion.

At 1430 hrs, Ernesto's winds were still at 45 mph (72 kph), hours after the storm left the mountains of Cuba, where it had initially lost some intensity. Ernesto killed two people in Haiti on Sunday after briefly becoming the season's first hurricane with winds of at least 119 kph.

The storm's center was about 72 km west-southwest of Miami and was moving north-northwest at 13 kph, the hurricane center said.

Tropical storms feed on warm waters, and the hurricane center's specialists said they were puzzled that Ernesto had not gained power in the Florida Straits.

After passing over much of the Florida peninsula, Ernesto could reemerge over the Atlantic and make a second landfall in the Carolinas.

The hurricane center's director Max Mayfield, who became a familiar face to Americans a year ago when Katrina flooded New Orleans, said he did not expect Ernesto to become a hurricane again.

But forecasters hedged their bets by leaving in place a hurricane watch -- alerting residents to possible hurricane conditions in 36 to 48 hours -- in coastal areas of the Carolinas.

''It is entirely possible that Ernesto could be near hurricane strength just before it makes landfall again,'' the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

REUTERS KR ND1724