Traders have strengthened the protection of their windows but few people in the Keys from Florida were evacuated this chain of islands Monday when Tropical Storm Fay, who swept a portion of the Caribbean by making a fifty dead.

It does not seem that the sixth tropical storm of the hurricane season in the Atlantic, had time to transform a hurricane before tackling this string of lowlands, easily prone to flooding.

At 18:00 GMT, Monday, Fay winds blowing at around 95 kph, and the heart of the storm was located about 10 Miles south-east of Key West. The low pressure system will slow down and turn north-northwest at a speed of 10 miles / h.

Fay, however, should have been sufficiently strengthened and become a hurricane (from 60 miles / h) Tuesday when addressing the west coast of Florida in the vicinity of Fort Myers Beach, "said U.S.  hurricane watch center, in Miami.

The State of Florida has deployed 500 National Guardsmen and schools remained closed Monday in the southern part.

A Key West, the southernmost city of USA, where Ernest Hemingway wrote several novels, many restaurants remained open although the wind has been strong and a poured rain, had begun to hit the streets which ware deserted.

"This is not a hurricane! If the media were not there to cover the case, it would be a non-event", claimed a resident.

Keys authorities in Florida have ordered visitors to evacuate Sunday, causing a traffic jam on the road that connects the islands. Monday, traffic was considerably less dense, said police.

Before putting the cap on Florida, Fay has crossed Cuba, apparently without causing serious damage. In Haiti, witnesses reported some fifty dead, who perished when a car tried to cross a river in spate. Eight other people died in Haiti and the Dominican Republic and two in Jamaica.

According to forecasts, Fay should avoid most sites off-shore oil in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, the price of a barrel of U.S. crude was down almost one percent (0.99%) Monday to 20h10 GMT, at 112.78 dollars.