The US National Hurricane Center lifted hurricane watches for Florida on Tuesday night as Tropical Storm Ernesto was not strengthening as it neared the southeastern state.

However, a tropical storm warning remained in effect for parts of the state, from Englewood on Florida's west coast, including Florida Keys, to Altamaha Sound, Georgia, according to the Miami-based center.

The center meanwhile issued a hurricane watch from north of Altamaha Sound, Georgia to Cape Fear, north Carolina.

The storm, which was located about 115 km south of Miami as of 8:00 PM EDT (01:00 GMT Wednesday), was moving northwest at about 20 km per hour, and was expected to cross the Florida Keys by 10:00 PM (03:00 GMT Wednesday), the center said.

Heavy rain was expected and a tornado watch remained in effect for Florida.

After crossing Florida, Ernesto was expected to stall in South and North Carolinas and move into Virginia, and could cause flooding in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, according to a CNN report.

A sate of emergency was declared in Florida on Sunday, in anticipation of Ernesto, which had strengthened into a hurricane for about 10 hours before it was downgraded to a tropical storm Sunday afternoon.

Ernesto was the first hurricane of the Atlantic season this year.

Visitors in the Florida Keys were ordered to leave on Sunday, and officials told those planning to visit the chain of small islands to postpone their plans. Residents were told to take shelter indoors as the storm neared.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has begun to prepare for Ernesto's possible impact on Florida, with four urban search-and-rescue teams in Florida and 13 medical teams in and around the state on stand-by.

(Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2006)