Fears of a major storm have prompted New Orleans to prepare evacuation plans, three years after the US city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Tropical storm Gustav, downgraded from a hurricane, has resulted in more than 20 deaths in Haiti, and is now heading towards Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
Residents there have boarded up homes as forecasters warn the storm could return to hurricane strength by Friday.
Gustav is expected to head towards the US, but it not clear where it will hit.
Meteorologists say it could make landfall anywhere from south Texas to Florida by Monday.
Workers were being evacuated from oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Oil prices on trading markets rose amid forecasts that Gustav could strengthen and threaten oil installations in the region.
'Life-threatening floods'
At 0200 local time (0600 GMT) the centre of the storm was 80 miles (130km) north-east of Jamaica's capital, Kingston, US National Hurricane Center in Florida said.
See map of the region
With maximum winds of 75km/h (45mph), it was moving south-west at about 13 Km/h (8mph) and was expected to pass very close to Jamaica later on Thursday.
A hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning remain in effect for Jamaica.
A hurricane watch is also in effect for all the Cayman Islands, although Cuba has replaced a hurricane warning for its eastern Granma province with a tropical storm warning.
The centre warns that Gustav is also expected to produce heavy rainfall - up to 25 inches (64cm) in some places - over Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica and the Caymans.
"These rains will likely produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides," it said.
Meanwhile, the US state of Louisiana and New Orleans are making their own preparations ahead of Gustav's arrival.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard.
New Orleans has also begun planning a possible mandatory evacuation, hoping to prevent the chaos it saw after Katrina, which struck the city three years ago on Friday.
Gustav is the seventh tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
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