Tropical Storm Emily Heads Toward Dominican Republic

Graphic shows the current location and projected track of Tropical Storm Emily

Tropical Storm Emily continues its track through the Eastern Caribbean, and is expected to turn towards Haiti and the Dominican Republic Wednesday before making landfall in the evening.

The storm is already producing heavy rain over Puerto Rico. It has a lot of moisture, so the Caribbean island can expect anywhere between six to 10 inches of rain, with up to 12 inches locally, especially over mountainous terrain.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic could see up to 20 inches of rain. Flash flooding and mudslides are major concerns. Storm surge will be one to two feet above normal tide levels and winds could gust over 50mph at times.

These conditions will threaten more lives in Haiti, where many residents are still recovering from the devastating earthquake in January 2010. According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 600,000 Haitians remain in displacement camps.

Tropical storm warnings are out for the Southeastern Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. A tropical storm watch was issued for the Central Bahamas Wednesday morning.

All eyes will be on Emily in the next few days, as quite a lot of uncertainty remains as to where the storm will go after landfall in Hispaniola.

Currently, the forecast is for Emily to re-intensify after weakening due to interaction with land. The center of the storm is expected to remain off the coast of the Southeastern US with the current forecast.

Maria Molina is a Fox News Channel meteorologist.