Tropical Storm Gabrielle Paralyzes Puerto Rico

San Juan, Sep 5 (Prensa Latina) The most important governmental, economic and social activities of the country came to a halt today due to the heavy rains caused by tropical storm Gabrielle since yesterday.

Puerto Rico's Governor, Alejandro García Padilla, announced that the main activities in the Caribbean island will stop for at least 24 hours.

He asked the population to be "extremely careful" in regard to the storm with maximum sustained winds of 64 kmh, moving 16 km west of Mayaguez, according to the U.S. National Meteorology Service stationed on the island.

The storm is expected to drop from 3 to 8 cm of rain.

Tropical storm Gabrielle was last located 64 km south-southwest of Ponce at 5:00 am, at 17.5 degrees North latitude and 66.9 degrees West longitude, and was drifting northwest at 12.8 kmh.

In the wake of Gabrielle, tropical storm and flooding warnings have been issued throughout the country, including on Vieques and Culebra islands.

"It is a very slow system, so we hope it will not cause serious damage," said García Padilla as he warned the people, "it is raining, this time over an already wet ground," increasing the possibilities of building collapses and flooding'.

The head of state said it is not likely that schools will open, taking this situation into account, but by tomorrow everything is expected to be back to normal.