Hurricane Tomas lashed Haiti with fierce winds and rain Friday, leaving three people dead in flooding and threatening hundreds of thousands people hunkered down in flimsy canvas tent camps.

Although officials had urged mass evacuations, with the risk of mudslides and flooding from torrential downpours, many clung to their make-shift homes and their few prized possessions as they had no where else to go.

The American Red Cross reported that the tents and tarps that provide flimsy shelter to many in in Port-au-Prince appeared to have weathered the storm, thanks to disaster preparedness efforts.

"So fortunately for them we can say that they appear to have made it through," Andrea Koppel of the American Red Cross told CNN.

The government said it had taken steps to accommodate as many as 100,000 people in schools, churches and hospitals -- a fraction of the 1.3 million left homeless by January's massive earthquake that killed some 250,000 people and flattened the capital.

The death toll from the storm had already risen to three, as Haitian officials reported two people were killed in flooding in the southern town of Leogane, said to be completely underwater after heavy rains. One person was killed late Thursday ahead of the storm's arrival.

Many smaller towns in western Haiti were cut off from the outside world after flooding damaged already neglected roads in rural areas that were difficult to pass in good weather.

The center of category one Tomas was passing Friday between Haiti and southeastern Cuba, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Haiti and parts of the neighboring Dominican Republic, however, could see five to 10 inches (12.5 to 25 centimeters) of rain, the NHC warned, with 15 inches (38 centimeters) in isolated spots and with rains that "could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides over mountainous terrain.

Tomas threatened further havoc in impoverished Haiti just as it battles a growing cholera outbreak that has killed 442 people.

"Dangerous landslides and heavy flooding could still worsen the cholera epidemic. Remain vigilant," urged President Rene Preval, saying a massive aid distribution effort was being prepared once "the situation on the roads will permit."

Tomas killed 14 people in Saint Lucia, then weakened to a tropical depression earlier this week before it gained a second life.

The storm was bearing maximum sustained winds of 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour. At 1800 GMT the hurricane was centered 140 miles (230 kilometers) northwest of Port-au-Prince and was churning to the northeast at 12 miles (19 kilometers) per hour.

The tent city near Haiti's ruined presidential palace, home to thousands of dispossessed, was already swimming in several inches (centimeters) of water, radio Vision 2000 said earlier Friday.

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive had pleaded with Haitians to head for safer grounds in a television address Thursday.

"There will be rain and wind throughout the country. Don't be stubborn. Leave if you are in a fragile shelter."

Many worried, however, that if they leave the overcrowded camps, they will lose their only home few possessions.

A cigarette in her hand, Natacha Jean was refusing to leave the Corail-Cesselesse camp, one of the largest in the Port-au-Prince region.

"We're not leaving. No one can make us. We have been here for eight months, and we won't abandon our tent," she said. "Where would we go?"

Much of Haiti's population of just under 10 million people live in precarious conditions, vulnerable to natural disasters. Mountainsides have been stripped of trees to be used as fuel, increasing the risk of landslides in wet weather.

A naval amphibious ship USS Iwo Jima was prepared to move into the country to provide assistance after Tomas has passed, with is fleet of 10 helicopters and specialized emergency teams, said mission head Captain Thomas Negus.

Relief supplies are in staging areas that were so far "not hampered significantly by infrastructure" problems, Negus told reporters from the ship, which redeployed toward Haiti from Suriname earlier this week.

In Washington, US officials also said emergency aid kits -- treatment for drinking water, cooking equipment and blankets -- for 125,000 people were ready for distribution.

Hurricane warnings were posted for the Turks and Caicos islands, which were staring at the potential of a direct hit later Friday.