Hurricane Ernesto was the costliest tropical cyclone of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season .

The sixth tropical storm Catastrophe and first hurricane Catastrophe of the season , Ernesto developed Coming_to_be from a tropical wave on August 24 in the eastern Caribbean Sea .

Ernesto first affected Influence the northern Caribbean , reaching Arriving minimal hurricane Catastrophe status near Haiti before weakening Cause_change_of_strength and moving Motion across eastern Cuba as a tropical storm Catastrophe .

Despite initial predictions for it to track through the eastern Gulf of Mexico as a major hurricane Catastrophe , Ernesto moved Self_motion across eastern Florida as a weak tropical storm Catastrophe .

Late the next day , Ernesto became Becoming extratropical after entering Arriving southern Virginia .

The deaths Death of at least eleven people were attributed Causation to Ernesto , which dumped Bringing heavy rains throughout its path , especially in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States .

While moving Self_motion across the Caribbean , it affected Influence several countries , and initially Ernesto posed Causation a threat to the Gulf Coast of the United States around the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina .