"This warning was issued because trees of up to four meters (12 feet) could fall and there could be waves of up to four meters (12 feet)," an official at the national Meteorological Institute told AFP.

The officials said the storm would not become a hurricane, which has winds of at least 200 kilometers (120 miles) per hour, because the seas were not hot enough.

"The storm was advancing very slowly," the official said. "It may not make landfall."

Officials advised residents to stay indoors and to keep small craft in harbor in coming days.

Storms are rare at this time of year, although some are known to form near West Africa and move toward the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico, where warmer waters can feed them.

TERRA.WIRE