Haiti Slammed By Tropical Storm Isaac

By Jeremy White | August 25 2012 11:27 AM

Tropical Storm Isaac battered southern Haiti on Saturday, drenching the storm-prone island's capital of Port-au-Prince and leaving at least three people dead.

Reuters

Tropical Storm Isaac hasn't landed in Florida yet, but it's already causing damage to the Republican Party. Almost all Republican National Convention events on Monday have been canceled because of the storm, according to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.

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It is the latest natural disaster to strike Haiti, which is still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake that killed thousands and left many more homeless. Many of the Haitians who endured Isaac's rains on Saturday are still living in the makeshift camps that resulted from the earthquake.

"From last night, we're in misery," Jean-Gymar Joseph, a resident of the shantytown Cite Soleil, told the Associated Press. "All our children are sleeping in the mud, in the rain."

Weather reports indicate that Isaac is likely to build in strength as it moves over Cuba and toward Florida, with forecasts calling for the storm to become a full-fledged hurricane as it whirls north up the Gulf of Mexico.

That could spell trouble for the thousands of people descending on Tampa for the Republican National Convention, which convenes next week. For now, Isaac seems more likely to veer off toward the Florida panhandle than to strike Tampa.