This NOAA satellite image taken Tuesday, August 02, 2011 at 10:45 AM EDT shows Tropical Storm Emily spinning over the eastern Caribbean Sea bringing heavy rain and strong winds to the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico.? At the same time, an area of low pressure to the southwest of Guatemala is pushing showers and clouds to most of Central America.? Meanwhile, high pressure over the Gulf of Mexico is producing mostly sunny skies for most of the Greater Antilles.(AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)
This NOAA satellite image taken Tuesday, August 02, 2011 at 10:45 AM EDT shows Tropical Storm Emily spinning over the eastern Caribbean Sea bringing heavy rain and strong winds to the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico.? At the same time, an area of low pressure to the southwest of Guatemala is pushing showers and clouds to most of Central America.? Meanwhile, high pressure over the Gulf of Mexico is producing mostly sunny skies for most of the Greater Antilles.(AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) ? Rain and wind gusts from the outer bands of Tropical Storm Emily struck Puerto Rico on Tuesday as the storm system gathered strength on a track that threatened the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The rain fell hardest in western Puerto Rico, largely sparing the capital, but there were no reports of major damage or injuries and no immediate demand for the nearly 400 schools that were converted into emergency shelters around the island. Emily had been expected to bring up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) to the island.
Gov. Luis Fortuno declared a state of emergency and most government offices were closed. Ahead of the storm, people cleared water and other emergency supplies from store shelves and tourists fled the small Puerto Rican islands of Culebra and Vieques.
With the storm more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) to the south in the Caribbean Sea, most of the island saw no more than sporadic gusts and showers. But the National Weather Service said up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain had fallen in the Cabo Rojo-Mayaguez region in the island's west.
One regional airline, LIAT, canceled flights but otherwise activity was normal at the airport and throughout most of the capital.
"It's no big deal," said Peter Morris, a 23-year-old University of Indiana student visiting the island. "I'm going to surf the day away and party all night long here, in this beautiful island."
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm, which had been almost stationary in the morning, had resumed its westward track at 12 mph (19 kph) by the afternoon. That path would bring Emily's center over Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, by Wednesday evening or Thursday. Both countries, but especially Haiti, are prone to devastating floods.
Civil defense officials and the military in the Dominican Republic have already begun moving people out of high-risk zones ahead of the storm. Haitian authorities urged people to conserve food and safeguard their belongings.
In Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince, Jislaine Jean-Julien, a 37-year-old street merchant displaced by last year's punishing earthquake, said she was praying the storm would pass her flimsy tent without knocking it over.
"For now, God is the only savior for me," Jean-Julien said at the edge of a crowded encampment facing the quake-destroyed National Palace. "I would go some place else if I could but I have no place else to go."
Elsewhere in Port-au-Prince, shoppers looked unhurried but lines in the banks began to grow as people tried to get cash.
In the Dominican Republic's southern tourist districts, workers at hotels and restaurants gathered up umbrellas, tables, chairs, and anything else that might be blown away.
Capt. Frank Castillo, dock master of the Marina Casa de Campo in the southeastern tourist city of La Romana, and his crew helped boat owners secure their vessels in slips or pull them ashore.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands, the government said it would not open emergency shelters on Tuesday afternoon since storm tracking information indicated that the U.S. territory would not get hit by damaging winds or heavy rainfall.
Still, some residents lined up at gas stations and hardware stores just in case.
So far, the storm had not caused major problems passing through the Caribbean, just minor ones. It forced the postponement until the weekend of the annual Carnival parade and caused mudslides and local flooding in Dominica.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. A tropical storm watch was in effect for the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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Associated Press writers Trenton Daniel in Port-au-Prince, David McFadden in Kingston, Jamaica, and Raul Colon in San Juan contributed.
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