Ernesto projected to become hurricane by early next week

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Tropical Storm Ernesto formed Friday over the Caribbean as it moved toward Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and could develop into the first hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic season, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Ernesto was projected to reach hurricane strength early next week and to enter the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday or Wednesday, but it was too soon to predict whether it would hit the United States, said Robbie Berg, a forecaster with the hurricane center in Miami.

“At this early stage, the message we want to send to people is not to panic but to watch it,” said Jamie Rhome, another specialist at the hurricane center.

Jamaica, which stood straight in the storm’s path, issued a tropical storm watch, and Haiti issued a tropical storm watch for its southern coast.

The storm was on a course that would bring it over Jamaica by Sunday afternoon, dumping heavy showers. Fishermen were warned to return to shore and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller met with disaster agencies to prepare.

Ernesto has the “potential to turn into a hurricane, so we must be on the alert for storm surges and damage to property,” said Nadine Newsome, of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management. The office provided hurricane survival tips to locals living in four parishes prone to extensive damage from rains.

Fears that the storm could damage offshore energy facilities in the Gulf of Mexico sent oil and natural-gas prices higher. Oil producers operating in the Gulf said they were prepared to evacuate nonessential personnel if needed.

Max Mayfield, the National Hurricane Center director, said it was too early to say whether the storm would hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, which is still recovering from last year’s Hurricane Katrina.

“It’s too early to pinpoint one specific location but I think the message is, especially to the folks that are in temporary housing, these 115,000 families mostly in the FEMA trailers, they need to watch this carefully,” Mayfield told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “We’ve got some time. We don’t want people to get too excited about this, but they certainly need to be watching it.”

Friday evening, Ernesto had maximum sustained winds near 40 mph with higher gusts. The fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was centered 285 miles south-southeast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and 600 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Debby was expected to stay over the open Atlantic, posing only a threat to ships.