Will Gustav go for the gusto?

Bitten once already this hurricane season by inexact forecasts, local emergency officials still aren't shy about naming the next threat.

From the easternmost part of the Florida Panhandle to the western edge of Louisiana, a deadly Hurricane Gustav could be it.

Everyone is preparing.

"You're in a situation where you might as well do that," said Dino Villani, Okaloosa County's director of public safety. "At this point in the season, regardless of what happens, there may be something right behind it.

"We're preparing for a storm. We're hoping we don't get one, but we are preparing for one."

On Wednesday, storm watchers warned that Tropical Storm Gustav could become a Category 3 hurricane in the next several days, blustering somewhere along the Gulf Coast by Labor Day. It had already been classified as a hurricane in earlier advisories.

It was about 60 miles south of Guantanamo, Cuba, on Wednesday night, and forecasters said it probably would pass between Jamaica and Cuba today. It was moving west at about 7 mph with winds near 45 mph.

The storm has already killed 22 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic as it dumped more than a foot of rain on Hispaniola, causing flooding and landslides.

"We know it's going to head into the gulf. After that, we're not sure," said meteorologist Rebecca Waddington at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "For that reason, everyone in the gulf needs to be monitoring the storm."

Gustav weakened as it stalled over Haiti, but forecasters at the NHC warned that it could intensify rapidly, fueled by the deep, warm water of the Gulf of Mexico.

Okaloosa County workers already were making plans Wednesday to evacuate people who lack transportation. The county health department was working on a special needs shelter. City officials were joining in the effort.

"Every city that we've had interactions with, everyone's taking it extremely seriously," Villani said.