Season's First Tropical Storm Forms in Caribbean

he first tropical storm of the 2005 hurricane season formed in the northwest Caribbean, moving closer toward Cuba and on a track to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Tropical Storm Arlene became the Atlantic hurricane season's first named storm, with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph after strengthening from a tropical depression that formed Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Oil company BP Plc said it was evactuating "non-essential" workers from oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico as the storm bore down on Cuba late Thursday, Bloomberg reported.

The storm was expected to enter the Gulf of Mexico by Friday, and residents from Florida to Louisiana were told to keep an eye on weather reports, AP said.

Last year, the first named storm of the season was Tropical Storm Alex, which formed Aug. 1. It later became a hurricane and came within 9 miles of the North Carolina's Outer Banks.

Within weeks, Florida was struck by Hurricane Charley, the first of four hurricanes to hit the state last year.

It was followed by hurricanes Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, and the four combined caused about 130 deaths and $22 billion in damage in the United States, AP said.