The hurricane conveyor belt: Dramatic satellite image shows storms queuing up across Atlantic

In this satellite photograph, another three weather systems  -  Hanna, Ike and Josephine  -  can be seen lined up across the Atlantic ocean.

They are expected to follow a similar path to their predecessor by rampaging through the Caribbean and the south-eastern U.S. coast.

Nature's power: Gustav, Hanna, Ike and Josephine are the latest storms in the season, which has been unusually active this year

Gustav has now been downgraded to a tropical depression, meaning its wind speeds have fallen to between 40 and 74mph.

It came ashore in Louisiana on Tuesday, when this picture was taken, as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of up to 110mph.

Almost two million residents left their homes, although improved barriers meant there was no repeat of the devastating flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Hanna was also downgraded to a tropical storm after battering Haiti and leaving 25 deaths in its wake, but is expected to regain hurricane strength as it reaches the U.S coast in the next few days.

A woman walks with two children through a street in the Dominican Republic that was flooded due to tropical storm 'Hanna'

The system has hovered off the Haitian coast since late on Monday, and it has also triggered flooding in the Dominican Republic. The Miami-based Hurricane Centre said Hanna is now edging slowing northwards, with top winds of 60mph.

It is likely to make its U.S. landfall by tomorrow night, somewhere between Georgia and North and South Carolina. Meanwhile, out in the Atlantic, Ike was fast approaching hurricane strength with winds of 70mph.

Following behind was Tropical Storm Josephine, which is swirling over the eastern Atlantic. It is the tenth storm of the season, which lasts from June 1 to November 30.

At the National Hurricane Centre a meteorologist looks at an enhanced satellite image of the Atlantic Hurricane Basin, showing Gustav (l) and Hanna