Even as the deadly storm barreled over Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, its sequels still wrought havoc in the Dominican Republic Thursday, four days after it slammed into the Caribbean nation.

The death toll in that country rose to 66 people, with 27 more reported missing, officials said on Thursday.

In Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, the death toll reached 34, officials said on Thursday. A further 14 people were listed as missing.

No deaths were reported in Cuba, which was hit on Wednesday, but there was significant damage to agricultural fields.

The islands of the northwestern Bahamas were placed under a hurricane watch amid concerns the storm could strengthen as it barrels over the Atlantic Ocean.

Residents boarded up their homes and stocked up on basic goods, as schools shut down and Bahamasair grounded its flights.

The storm drenched the islands of Andros and New Providence Thursday and forecasters warned it could dump as much as 38 centimeters (15 inches) of rain.

Even after the storm swirled over the Atlantic Ocean, the three Caribbean countries slammed by Noel earlier in the week remained on high alert.

"Rains in Hispaniola and Cuba are expected to cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," said forecaster James Franklin of the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Noel's rip through the Caribbean came at a time when dams were already full, rivers bloated and the soil saturated from weeks of rain.

Rescue officials said improved visibility made it possible for the first time on Thursday to deploy helicopters to the worst affected areas of the Dominican Republic, where surging flood waters forced people to perch on their rooftops.

Torrents of water smashed several bridges, while authorities reported that 664 homes were destroyed and a further 15,600 were damaged. In all 62,428 people have fled their homes, 21,503 of whom are staying in official shelters.

The Dominican government is seeking international emergency loans for a total of 100 million dollars to deal with the disaster, officials said.

In Haiti, the fatalities included a 14-year-old girl and her mother killed when an uprooted tree crushed their house in the capital, while several homes were swept away by floods.

"I want to appeal to the whole world .... send clothes, blankets, food, everything you can," said Gustave Benoit, the deputy mayor of Cite Soleil, a slum in the Haitian capital that at the best of times looks like it has been hit by a hurricane.

With thousands of people in need of urgent assistance, Benoit did what he could to help, handing out rice and water from his beat up car.

In Cuba, almost 1,300 homes were damaged. Some interior areas remain incommunicado due to flooded roads, and coffee crops were damaged by flooding.

On Thursday evening Noel packed maximum sustained winds of 104 kilometers (65 miles) per hour, with higher gusts, the NHC said. It said the storm could strengthen following its romp through the Bahamas, while at the same time losing its tropical storm characteristics as it travels north.

earlier related report
At least 80 killed in Tropical Storm Noel's Caribbean rampage
Floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Noel killed at least 80 people in the Caribbean as the weather system shifted its sights to the Bahamas.

At least 56 people were killed and dozens missing in the Dominican Republic, said Luis Luna Palino, head of the country's National Emergencies Center (CNE).

Floods forced people to climb onto their roofs or perch on trees in affected areas. In one Santo Domingo neighborhood entire houses disappeared under the flood waters.

In neighboring Haiti, at least 24 people were killed, Civil Protection officials said.

Separately, at least one person was killed and eight were reported missing Wednesday due to floods and landslides caused by heavy rain unrelated to Noel in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco.

The center of Noel ripped through central and eastern Cuba on Wednesday, where no casualties were reported though more than 20,000 people were evacuated from the storm's path.

With dams full, rivers bloated and the soil saturated from weeks of rain, Cuban Civil Defense authorities warned of possible floods and landslides.

At 0600 GMT Thursday the center of Noel was located about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of Nassau, in the Bahamas, and about 315 kilometers (195 miles) southeast of Miami, the Florida-based National Hurricane Center reported.

Noel was winding its way north at eight kilometers (five miles) per hour, packing maximum sustained winds of near 95 kilometers (60 miles) an hour, with higher gusts.

Noel barreled across the Dominican Republic on Sunday, before slamming Haiti on Monday.

"The situation is still dangerous and the number of deaths could rise," said Palino.

"Rescuing people is becoming difficult because the rains are continuing," he told local radio, adding that floods had cut off 39 communities in the south of the country, where more than one-third of the population was left without power.

"The worst of the situation is the flooding of rivers," he said.

More than one-third of the country's population is also without electricity, officials said.

In Haiti, the fatalities included a 14-year-old girl and her mother killed when an uprooted tree crushed their house in the capital.

Heavy rains swept away and destroyed homes in three departments, said Marie Alta Jean Baptiste, head of the country's civil protection agency.

Haitian Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis said 1.5 million dollars had been set aside to assist storm victims.

In Cuba, some 120 homes were reported destroyed in northern Camanguey province by heavy surf caused by Noel. Some interior areas remain incommunicado due to flooded roads. Radio reports mentioned coffee crops damaged by flooding.

Noel is the first powerful storm to directly hit Cuba since Hurricane Wilma in October 2005, which resulted in heavy flooding including in Havana.

Forecasters expect Noel to strengthen as it passes over warm water and gradually turn to the northeast, eventually skirting Florida.

Residents of the southeastern US state were urged to closely monitor its progress.

In Mexico, more than 400,000 people were affected by the heavy rain unrelated to Noel in the state of Tabasco. At least eight people were reported missing in the neighboring state of Chiapas, also due to flooding, local authorities said.

Tens of thousands of people were relocated when the Grijalva and Puxcatan rivers swelled after engineers released water from pent-up dams upstream, officials said.

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