Hurricane Marco weakens back to storm; Laura begins moving through Cuba

After a day as a hurricane, Tropical Storm Marco approached Louisiana for an expected landfall around midday Monday, while Tropical Storm Laura was forecast to move along Cuba’s southern coast during the day before entering the Gulf of Mexico and heading toward the same stretch of U.S. coast later in the week, most likely as a hurricane.

Laura caused the deaths of at least 11 people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, while knocking out power and causing flooding in the two nations that share the island of Hispaniola.

Marco had grown into a hurricane early Sunday, but the National Hurricane Center said its sustained winds decreased to 70 mph (110 kph) after nightfall. The centre cautioned that Marco could still cause life-threatening storm surges and dangerous winds along the Gulf Coast.

Marco was centred about 115 miles (190 kilometres) south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River land heading northwest at 10 mph (17 kph) Monday morning.

Laura was centred about 175 miles (285 kilometres) east-southeast of Cayo Largo on Monday morning, and had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph). It was moving west-northwest at 21 mph (33 kph) and was predicted to strengthen into a hurricane by Tuesday morning as it followed a path likely to take it to the Louisiana coast by Wednesday night, forecasters said.

1:52 Louisiana governor says state dealing with ‘unique situation’ with Hurricane Marco, Tropical Storm Laura

In the wake of Laura’s passage through the Caribbean, authorities on Sunday reported at least 11 deaths.

Haitian civil protection officials said they had received reports a 10-year-old girl was killed when a tree fell on a home in the southern coastal town of Anse-a-Pitres, on the border with the Dominican Republic. Haiti’s prime minister said at least eight other people died and two were missing. In the Dominican Republic, relatives told reporters a collapsed wall killed a mother and her young son.

0:54 Dual tropical storms heading towards U.S. Gulf Coast could transform into hurricanes

Hundreds of thousands were without power in the Dominican Republic amid heavy flooding in both countries.

Despite Marco’s weakening, a storm surge warning remained in place from Morgan City, Louisiana, to Ocean Springs, Mississippi. A tropical storm warning included Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana, and metropolitan New Orleans.

A storm surge of up to 4 feet (1.2 metres) was forecast for parts of coastal Louisiana and Mississippi.

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Associated Press writers Freida Frisaro in Miami and Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans contributed to this report.