Florida declares state of emergency ahead of storm

Washington: Florida Governor Rick Scott declared on Friday a state of emergency ahead of a tropical storm which was expected to hit the state from Sunday into next week and pose a "severe threat to the entire state".

After dumping torrential rain in the eastern Caribbean on Thursday, tropical storm "Erika" is traversing the northeastern Carribean Sea with maximum sustained winds of about 90 km per hour and the National Hurricane Centre has predicted that from the upcoming Sunday to Wednesday, the storm will travel through Florida's peninsula, said an executive order by the governor.

Four people died and several others were missing as tropical storm Erika hit the Caribbean island nation of Dominica on Thursday, according to Xinhua.

A visually impaired senior citizen and two children were killed when a mudslide crashed into their house in the southeast of the island, and another man's body was found near his home following a mudslide in the capital city of Roseau, according to reports monitored in Kingston, Jamaica.

The storm has dumped a general rainfall of about 15 inches (388 mm) on Dominica within 24 hours, unleashing serious flooding and mudslides that damaged roads and houses. Electricity and water supplies were cut in 80 percent of the island.

(IANS)