HAVANA, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- A hurricane alert was issued by Cuba's civil defense department on Sunday to the eastern provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Holguin, Las Tunas and Camaguey.

People stock up on bread at a bakery in Havana August 27, 2006.  (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    Hurricane Ernesto was the first hurricane of the season with winds measured at 120 kph in the early hours of Sunday.

    At 8:00 a.m. local time (1200 GMT), Ernesto reached category one on the Saafir-Simpson Scale, with a central pressure of 997 hectopascals around 366 km east of Jamaican capital Kingston and 340 km southeast of Guantanamo, Cuba's easternmost province.

    Ernesto has been moving northeast at a speed of 15 kph. In the following 12 to 24 hours, Ernesto is expected to head northeast and east with little change in speed or direction, approaching Haiti's extreme southeast.

    Haiti reports said that the storm had already made its presence felt: triggering very heavy rains, which could lead to deadly mudslides, and causing waves nearly two meters high close to Les Cayes, a town 155 km west of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince. It has already disrupted phone lines and destroyed homes on the Haitian island of Gonave.

    The storm could pass Cuba and go on to the United States, according to weather forecast. Enditem