Four deaths have already been blamed on the floods Tropical Storm Fay has caused. They have been reported in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In Haiti another person was reported missing.

Sunday in the early hours, tropical storm Fay gained strength while approaching to Cuba on its way to the Florida Keys, a U.S. archipelago, forecasters from the National Hurricane Center announced.

As reported by the CNN yesterday, Fay started turning west-northwest Saturday late at night and was forecasted to head north and make landfall by late Monday, by which time the storm could reach hurricane strength.

Charlie Crist, the Governor of Florida, declared a state of emergency and added that the effects of the tropical storm could be a “major disaster.” According to forecasters from NHC, the sixth named storm of the 2008 season could bring hurricane-force winds to the Florida Keys early on Monday.

On Sunday afternoon, the NHC in Miami announced that the tropical storm was situated an estimated 60 miles south of Guantanamo, southeast Cuba. It was moving toward west at an estimated 16 mph, and maximum sustained winds had reduced from 50 mph to 40 mph.

To be considered a hurricane, sustained winds must reach 74 mph.

"We are currently monitoring the situation," stated Capitan Chip Wildy of Emergency Management of the Marion County Sheriff's Department.