Storm Emily could regenerate,flooding kills two

Flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Emily kills two persons.

Two persons were killed in flooding triggered by former Tropical Storm Emily,authorities said on Friday,as its remnants moved northwest over the Caribbean with a 60 percent chance of regenerating into a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours.

Authorities in Florida were watching the weather system but most forecast tracks showed it keeping away from the state’s south coast and eventually swinging into the Atlantic Ocean.

The remnants of Emily posed no threat to oil and gas production facilities in the US Gulf of Mexico.

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Emily,the fifth named storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season,lost intensity on Thursday as it rolled over mountainous Hispaniola island,dumping rain on Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

In Haiti,officials said one person died in flooding in the southern city of Les Cayes. They urged people to be on alert for more potential rain.

A 23-year-old man died in the Dominican Republic when he fell down a sewer as he bathed in a pool of water created by the rains and resulting floods,authorities said.

Some 7,000 people had been forced to leave their homes,with dozens of villages cut off by floodwater and swollen rivers,Dominican Republic officials said.

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This system remains disorganized but upper-level winds are expected to become a little more favorable for development on Saturday,the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said,giving it a high chance of reforming into a tropical cyclone season this year.

On Thursday the U.S. government weather agency NOAA raised its outlook for activity in the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season,predicting it would produce seven to 10 hurricanes.

Three to five of those were expected to strengthen into major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale,with top winds of at least 110 miles (178 km) per hour,it said.