Tropical storms have top sustained winds of at least 39 mph. The first named storm of the season would be Alberto.

The depression was expected to move through the Yucatan Channel into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, forecasters said.

At 9 a.m., the depression's center was located about 50 miles south- southwest of Cabo San Antonio on the western tip of Cuba. It was moving north-northwest about 12 mph.

The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.

"The satellite presentation of the storm is not very impressive, so not much additional strengthening is anticipated," said hurricane specialist Richard Pasch.

The prospect of a wet storm without hurricane-force wind was welcomed by firefighters who have been battling wildfires for six weeks on Florida's east coast.

"A good soaking rain would do a lot to help stop the fires in our area," said Pat Kuehn, a spokeswoman for Volusia County Fire Services. "It has been a hard fire season. We've had several fires a week here."

Forecasters said up to 30 inches of rain could fall over the western half of Cuba, creating a threat of flash floods and mudslides, and up to 8 inches could fall over the Florida Keys and the state's Gulf Coast.

Residents of the state's Gulf Coast were watching the storm, including Patricia Haberland, whose back porch was flooded by 12 inches of rain in March. She put a few valuables in plastic bins this weekend just to be on the safe side.

"Other than that, we're carrying on as usual, going to work, going to church," said Haberland, 52. "It doesn't look like it's going to have a major impact on our area."

At 11 a.m. EDT, Alberto was centered about 400 miles west of Key West and about 445 miles south-southwest of Apalachicola, forecasters said.

It was moving northwest at about 9 mph but was expected to turn northeastward in the direction of central or northern Florida, where it could make landfall early Tuesday, forecasters said.

The tropical depression that produced Alberto formed Saturday, nine days after the official start of the hurricane season, in the northwest Caribbean, which can produce typically weak storms that follow a similar track this time of year, forecasters said.

"They can also meander in the Gulf for awhile, and we've seen some dissipate before reaching any land areas," Pasch said. "There is no guarantee (Alberto) will make landfall."

Scientists say the 2006 season could produce up to 16 named storms, six of them major hurricanes.

Last year's hurricane season was the most destructive on record. Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana and Mississippi and was blamed for more than 1,570 deaths in Louisiana alone.

It also was the busiest in 154 years of storm tracking, with a records 28 named storms and a record 15 hurricanes. Meteorologists used up their list of 21 proper names - beginning with Arlene and ending with Wilma - and had to use the Greek alphabet to name storms for the first time.

This year, however, meteorologists have said the Atlantic is not as warm as it was at this time in 2005, meaning potential storms would have less of the energy needed to develop into hurricanes.

Last year's first named storm was Tropical Storm Arlene, which formed June 9 and made landfall just west of Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle.

A train carrying some 600 passengers derailed in the central county of Miaoli after a landslide hit the line. The driver and five passengers were injured, the agency said Sunday.

On Sunday the army and police mobilized a fleet of helicopters to transport hundreds of tourists stranded at two mountainous hot spring spots in Taichung and Nantou counties. Among those rescued were 14 tourists from China's northeastern province of Heilongjiang.

"It was really scary. This was the heaviest downpours I have ever seen in my life," a Chinese male tourist told a local television station after his group was evacuated to safety.

The Council of Agriculture put 320 rivers island-wide on flood alert and urged residents to heighten vigilance against possible landslides.

The council estimated that the floods had caused crop damage worth at least 500 million Taiwan dollars (more than 15 million US).

Fujian province on the southeast coast has been the hardest hit with at least 45 people confirmed killed since the end of May, it said.

The water level in some parts of Nanping city rose to six metres (19.8 feet), it said.

Rains also lashed the southwestern province of Guangxi, killing at least 14 people since Monday and forcing the evacuation of 112,000, the newspaper said.

In Wuzhou Thursday, 306 millimetres of rain fell in eight hours -- equivalent to one-fifth of the city's annual average rainfall, the report said.

The quake halted some local rail services, while bullet trains were forced to run at reduced speed as safety checks were conducted, public broadcaster NHK said.

Major cities to feel the full effect included Hiroshima, the target of the world's first atomic bomb attack and the site of car manufacturing plants owned by Mazda Motor Corp.

At least eight people were injured, including two who suffered head injuries, a 77-year-old woman who dislocated her shoulder after falling from her bed and an 82-year-old woman who broke her leg while walking her dog, Kyodo news agency reported.

Nuclear power plants and oil refineries were operating normally after the tremor, company officials said.

The earthquake, which struck at 5:01 a.m (2001 GMT), measured "lower 5" on the seven-point Japanese intensity scale, which measures ground motion. A quake with that reading can damage roads and less earthquake-resistant buildings.

No tsunami warning was issued.

About three hours later, an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.8 struck the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The May 27 earthquake that killed more than 5,700 people on the Indonesian island of Java had a magnitude of 6.3.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region in northern Japan, killing about 40 people and injuring more than 3,000.

That was the deadliest quake since a magnitude 7.2 tremor hit the city of Kobe in 1995, killing more than 6,400.

Local radio station el-Shinta said the quake was lightly felt in Bandar Lampung.

Utomo said there were no reports of injuries, damage or a tsunami.

Bandar Lampung is located on the southern tip of Sumatra island and is 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Jakarta.

Meanwhile, at least eight injuries were reported after an earthquake registering a magnitude of 6.2 on the Richter scale shook western Japan early Monday.

The epicentre was reported to be 146 kilometres below ground in Oita province. No tsunami warnings were issued.

Among the injured were an 82-year-old woman in Hiroshima province who broke a leg while walking her dog, and a 14-year-old who suffered a minor head injured, according to media reports.

Operations at nuclear power plants in the quake-hit area were unaffected, authorities said.

A secondary quake in northern Japan registered a 4.8 magnitude.

Transpower spokesman Chris Roberts told NZPA that an earth-wire at the substation had fallen across a 110kv feed, one of two main feeds into Auckland.

About half of the region -- including most of the south and central Auckland -- were without power.

The blackout halted trains on the suburban commuter rail network, traffic lights failed and some central city businesses were evacuated, NZPA said.

Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard said the city council had initiated civil defense procedures.

"We're not in a state of civil defense but we are on alert," Hubbard said. "We've initiated first level civil defense just in case there is a major problem."

"This outage affects two-thirds of the area of the city, which would be 700,000 people," Hubbard said.

Two of the largest hospitals in Auckland were closed due to the blackout, the country's Health Ministry said in a statement.

Auckland International Airport, the country's main gateway to the rest of the world, was also affected by the blackout, though emergency generators provided enough power and there was no disruption to flights, the airport company said.