Refugees have been advised to leave the camps, but many have nowhere to go Haiti has been placed on high alert as a powerful storm sweeps in, threatening thousands of earthquake survivors still living in camps.
Forecasters say Tropical Storm Tomas is gaining strength and will begin to lash Haiti by late Thursday, reaching full force by Friday.
Some camps are being evacuated and officials have told those living in tents to move to stronger shelter.
Health workers fear heavy rain will exacerbate Haiti’s cholera epidemic.
The BBC’s Laura Trevelyan in Port-au-Prince says many trees have been cut down for charcoal and deforestation, meaning that heavy rains could trigger mudslides.
On Thursday, Tomas was churning across the Caribbean south-west of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, with maximum sustained winds of 85km/h (50mph), the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
The NHC warned of hurricane conditions for Haiti, the south-eastern Bahamas, the Caicos Islands and the Cuban province of Guantanamo.
It also issued a tropical storm warning for Jamaica and the Cuban provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Holguin.
Tomas is expected to pick up speed over the next 48 hours, and experts warn it could again develop into a hurricane.
Those staying in the camps are making their shelters as strong as possible “On the forecast track, the centre will pass near Haiti or extreme eastern Cuba (late Thursday) and early Friday,” the NHC said.
The storm is expected to dump as much as 38cm (15in) of rain over Haiti and the neighbouring Dominican Republic, with more heavy rain over Jamaica and Cuba.
Miloudy Vincent, a senior aide in Haiti’s education ministry, said schools would close temporarily to be used for shelters.
Civil protection official Nadia Lochard said radio stations were being used to tell those living in camps they should “move to a place that is secure”, such as the homes of friends or relatives.
However, correspondents say fear and confusion have swept through many of the camps, where many have nowhere else to go.
At the Corail-Cesselesse relocation camp, fighting broke out on Wednesday when officials tried to explain a planned voluntary evacuation of nearly 8,000 people.
Aid agencies have been stockpiling supplies ready for the storm and the US has deployed the USS Iwo Jima to help with any humanitarian emergency.
Medecins Sans Frontieres says it has moved patients from tented wards to stronger shelters and positioned helicopters in the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
Doctors have warned that torrential rain could flood sanitary installations and contaminate drinking water, worsening a cholera epidemic in the country.
On Wednesday health officials said there had been a 40% jump in the number of new cholera cases and the death toll was 442, with 105 more deaths since Saturday.
An estimated 1.3 million survivors of January’s devastating earthquake are still living in tent camps in and around Haiti’s capital.
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