Fay churns toward Cuban coast, Florida

(Recasts, updates with new location, adds details)

By Jeff Franks

HAVANA, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Fay churned along Cuba's southeastern coast on Sunday with 50 mile per hour (80 km per hour) winds and was expected to hit land overnight before heading toward Florida as a likely hurricane.

The storm was just off Cuba's lightly populated Cabo Cruz, which juts out into the Caribbean Sea, and moving northwest at 13 miles per hour (20 km per hour), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Florida said.

Fay, which killed at least five people when it struck Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Saturday, was crossing over warm waters -- 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) -- and expected to strengthen before going ashore in Cuba's central provinces, forecasters said.

In its latest advisory, the hurricane center predicted Fay, the sixth storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, would move slowly across Cuba overnight before emerging in the Florida Straits or Gulf of Mexico on Monday.

It said Fay could be near hurricane strength before striking Cuba, and may be a hurricane, which has winds of at least 74 mph (118 kph), when it reaches Florida's west coast.

Hurricane watches were posted along much of Cuba's southern and northern coasts, including Havana, and in southern Florida.

Fay hit eastern Cuba with gusty winds and rain beginning on Saturday night, but so far there were no reports of injuries, major damage or flooding.

In Guantanamo, the weather was not bad enough to stop the annual Carnival celebration, said Pedro Alvarez, 35, a resident of the coastal city that is a neighbor of the controversial U.S. military detention center where the Bush administration holds more than 200 accused terrorists.

"Up to now there has been just a very light, off-and-on rainfall, so much so that last night the people continued celebrating Carnival," he told Reuters.

Cubans living in flood-prone areas were being evacuated ahead of the storm, Cuban officials said.

Rains up to eight inches (20 cm), the Cuban Meteorological Institute said.

In the Florida Keys, 90 miles (144 km) north of Cuba, officials on Sunday initiated a Keys-wide evacuation of visitors. Anyone planning to visit the area in the next few days needs to postpone their trip, they said.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, told CNN: "The watch word for Floridians is be calm, but be alert."

"Florida is very, very practiced at these things unfortunately, so we're ready. But we want to make sure all our citizens are ready."

The hurricane center said it expected Fay to eventually hit Florida's western coast, which is well east of the United States' oil and natural production in the Gulf of Mexico.

Shell Oil Co said on Saturday it was pulling 200 workers from offshore platforms as a precaution.

In addition to the hurricane alert in Cuba, tropical storm warnings and watches were in effect for the central Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica and southeastern Florida. (Additional reporting by Michael Christie in Miami, Mark Frank in Havana)