While a slightly weakened, but still deadly Hurricane Gustav barreled down on the U.S. Gulf Coast on Sunday, Tropical Storm Hanna swayed east of Florida, embedded in a complicated climatic environment that made it next to impossible to forecast its direction and potential strength.

The storm could just as easily end up over Cuba, bring heavy rainfall to citrus country in central Florida or drift northward toward South Carolina. Hanna, the eighth tropical storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, had intensified briefly, but then its maximum winds pulled back to 45 mph Sunday as it moved northwest past Turks and Caicos Islands toward the Bahamas.

It is difficult to say if the storm might eventually end up in the U.S. oil patch in the Gulf of Mexico, hurricane experts say. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said "some restrengthening" is expected in the next 24 hours, and that Gustav could regain the Cat. 4 power it had mustered just before landfall in Cuba. Hurricane warnings - meaning the hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours - are posted today from Cameron, La., east to the Alabama/Florida state line. Tropical storm watches and warnings were issued for the Turks and Caicos Islands, and for the southeastern Bahamas.

Tropical-storm force winds can be expected all across the northern coast of the Gulf, 200 miles outward from the center of the storm. Hurricane force winds extend up to 50 miles from the storm's eye. And if Hanna and Hurricane Gustav weren't enough, hurricane center forecasters continued to monitor a cluster of thunderstorms off the west coast of Africa that has a high probability of forming into a tropical depression. The system had moved west of the Cape Verde Islands on Sunday, about 3,200 miles from Miami.

Mandatory evacuations are underway in parts of Louisiana, and especially in the New Orleans area.

The travel alert urged U.S. citizens lacking safe shelter and likely to be affected by the tropical storm to consider leaving while commercial flights are still available. Six to 12 inches of rain - or 20 in some places - will severely test the flood barriers and pumps. And the storm surge could top 10 or 15 feet. Increased accuracy saves unnecessary evacuation costs and the nerves of people who otherwise might have to leave their homes.

The travel alert said U.S. citizens should carry their travel documents such as U.S. passport, birth certificate, and photo IDs with them at all times or secure them by placing in a safe, waterproof location. Also, Americans in the areas affected by the storm were reminded to stay in contact with friends and family in the United States. - NEX: NewsExtensions.com.