UPDATE 2-Storms swirl in Atlantic, floods strike Haiti

(Recasts throughout, changes dateline, previous Miami)

By John Marquis

NASSAU, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Hanna drenched the Bahamas and triggered deadly flooding in Haiti on Tuesday, as it headed for expected landfall in the southeastern United States later this week.

Meanwhile, a new tropical storm, Josephine, formed off Africa, behind Tropical Storm Ike. Both were moving westward as Atlantic storm activity reached a frenetic pace just as Hurricane Gustav began to dissipate on Tuesday after slamming ashore on the U.S. Gulf Coast near New Orleans.

The flurry of storms was the latest evidence that predictions for a busier than normal season were on the mark, and was worrisome news for U.S. oil and natural gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico, millions living in the Caribbean and on U.S. coasts, and farmers fearing flooded fields.

The U.S. government has forecast that 14 to 18 tropical storms will form during the six-month Atlantic hurricane season that began on June 1, compared to a historical average of 10. Tropical Storm Josephine was already the 10th, forming before the statistical peak of the season on Sept. 10.

A noted forecasting team at Colorado State University on Tuesday projected there would be four hurricanes in September, and said storm activity would be nearly twice the average for the month.

By early morning, Hurricane Hanna had weakened into a tropical storm as it swirled near Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas, but the weakening could be short-lived, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

It had 70 mile per hour (110 kph) winds, just short of being a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of storm intensity.