By ARIAN CAMPO-FLORES
Tropical storm Isaac, which is gathering strength in the Caribbean, could strike Florida, hurricane forecasters say, triggering concern it might force a postponement or cancellation of the Republican National Convention in Tampa next week.
Tropical Storm Isaac is churning through the Caribbean and could be heading for Tampa, just in time for the start of the Republican Convention on Monday. Meteorologist Eric Holthaus on The News Hub has details on Isaac's likely path.
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It is still too early to predict whether the storm could make a direct hit on the city. Forecast models show Isaac's center following a path that could take it as far west as the Gulf of Mexico and as far east as the Atlantic Ocean by next Monday.
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands braced for torrential rains on Thursday as the storm churned waves as high as 10 feet in the Caribbean and threatened to become a hurricane. Some flooding was reported in eastern and southern regions of Puerto Rico as the storm approached.
Isaac will likely turn into a Category 1 hurricane by Friday as it nears the Dominican Republic and Haiti, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was expected to weaken a little while heading over their island and Cuba, then possibly move on toward Florida as a hurricane by Monday.
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European Pressphoto AgencyA contractor works installs a sign for the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. this week.
On Wednesday morning, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn raised the prospect that the GOP convention, scheduled to run from Monday to Thursday, might have to be canceled. "Absolutely, we're prepared to call it off," he said in an interview on CNN.
Such a move "would be a last resort," he told The Wall Street Journal later in the day. "I don't think it will come to that," he said. "We are full speed ahead with the RNC."
Convention organizers said they were monitoring the storm. "The convention is working closely with our partners at the federal, state and local levels," said James Davis, director of communications for the convention. "We have contingency plans in place to ensure the health and safety" of attendees and local residents. Mr. Davis declined to provide further details.
The U.S. Secret Service is coordinating overall security for the convention, said spokesman George Ogilvie. But numerous other federal, state and local agencies would be involved in any disaster response, he said.
Officials say that they have always known a big storm could strike during the convention and that they have planned accordingly. In May, the Florida Division of Emergency Management conducted its annual hurricane exercise?a simulation designed to test the state's disaster response?in Tampa. The scenario envisioned a hurricane hitting the city during the convention. "It certainly improved our readiness," said Bryan Koon, the division's director.
All of this may sound familiar to Republicans: in 2008, they canceled much of the programming for the first day of the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minn., out of respect for those threatened by Hurricane Gustav, which was bearing down on the Gulf Coast.
?Associated Press contributed to this article.Write to Arian Campo-Flores at arian.campo-flores@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared August 23, 2012, on page A7 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Republican Convention Threatened By Storm.
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