They warned of heavy rainfall, potential flash floods and mudslides in western Cuba, the Cayman Islands and western Florida, as the system moves north, then curves east, according to predictions, over the next two days.

Tropical depressions can strengthen into tropical storms and then hurricanes, bringing the possibility of the first named storm of the 2006 season just days after its start.

The storm was 80 kilometers (50 miles) south-southwest of the western tip of Cuba at 1300 GMT Saturday, moving north-northwest at 19 kilometers (12 miles) per hour, with maximum sustained winds near 55 kilometers (35 miles) per hour.

"Some strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours, and the depression could become a tropical storm later today," the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory.

Weather experts have forecast between eight to 10 hurricanes -- six of them major -- during the official June 1-November 30 hurricane season.

Last year, Hurricane Katrina killed 1,300 people and displaced tens of thousands along the US Gulf coast. New Orleans is still battling to recover, and engineers have warned its levees could not withstand another battering.

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