Nearly a hurricane, Tropical Storm Gustav swamped Jamaica on Thursday after pounding other parts of the Caribbean and leaving at least 59 people dead in its wake.

Just three years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans confronts a new threat from Gustav and a stark question: Will the partially rebuilt levees hold?

With Gustav showing no signs of veering off a track to slam into the Gulf Coast, authorities began laying the groundwork Thursday to get the sick, elderly and poor away from the shoreline.

The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Hanna has formed northeast of the northern Leeward Islands in the Atlantic.

Indian officials rushed soldiers and air force helicopters Wednesday to flood-ravaged parts of northern India to provide aid to the more than 1 million people stranded by a surging river.

People worried about the high cost of keeping warm this winter will draw little comfort from the Farmers' Almanac, which predicts below-average temperatures for most of the U.S.