Tropical storm Tomas, which is due to regain hurricane status, is set to roar past the Caribbean island early Friday bringing heavy rains and winds, adding to the misery of the 1.3 million left homeless by January's quake.

The impoverished nation is also struggling to contain an outbreak of cholera which hit last month and has already claimed more than 440 lives and sickened almost 6,800 people.

US weather experts said Tomas was likely to dump between five to 10 inches (12 to 25 centimeters) of rain on Haiti, and was already packing winds of 50 miles (85 kilometers) an hour.

On Thursday the storm, which has already killed 14 people in the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, was lashing the nearby island of Jamaica.

Early Friday Tomas is set to bring hurricane-force winds to Haiti and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and regain strength to become a hurricane one late in the day as it barrels towards the Turks and Caicos islands.

Haitian President Rene Preval was on a nationwide tour pleading with his countrymen living in high-risk areas to evacuate, as authorities closed schools and urged locals to relocate to safer ground.

"We have decided to shut schools temporarily ahead of the storm, because some of them will be used for shelters," said Miloudy Vincent, a top aide to the education minister.

But some of the 1.3 million displaced residents, left homeless by the 7.0 quake which ravaged the capital Port-au-Prince in January, do not want to leave their tent cities without guarantees of safe shelter.

At one of the largest camps, Corail Cesselesse, residents were gearing up to protest Thursday against forcible relocations, fearing they would lose what meager possessions they have if they are forced to leave.

The US National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch for Haiti, and said the storm at 1500 GMT was some 295 miles (475 kilometers) from Port-au-Prince, moving at about eight miles (13 kilometers) an hour.

"These conditions make outside preparations difficult or dangerous, and preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," the Miami-based center warned.

Much of Haiti's population of just under 10 million people live in precarious conditions, vulnerable to natural disasters.

Mountainsides have been stripped of trees to be used as fuel, increasing the risk of landslides in wet weather. And many Haitians live beside rivers, their main water source, and risk being swept away in storms.

International partners have raced to deliver much-needed supplies to the country, as US naval commanders ordered the USS Iwo Jima to prepare to leave for Haiti with humanitarian aid.

Meanwhile, a cholera epidemic is spreading in unsanitary camps for the homeless, claiming 442 lives so far, with a total of 6,742 people sickened.

The cholera outbreak is threatening some 25,000 new mothers and their babies in and around the capital, according to international aid group Save the Children.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Haiti, the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Jamaica, the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, and parts of Cuba.

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