(Adds background, details)

HOUSTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Hurricane Hanna formed near the Bahamas in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday, as powerful Hurricane Gustav battered New Orleans and the U.S. Gulf Coast and a new tropical depression formed between Africa and the Leeward Islands.

At 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT), Hanna was packing 75 miles per hour (120 kph) winds and centered near Mayaguana Island in the southeastern Bahamas, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Hanna is the fourth hurricane of an already busy Atlantic hurricane season and it was expected to move over the southeastern and central Bahamas during the next couple of days, the Miami-based hurricane center said.

According to the hurricane center, Hanna is on track to skirt the Florida coast before making landfall on Friday in South Carolina, near its border with Georgia.

In addition to Hanna, a new tropical depression formed between Africa and the Leeward Islands on Monday.

The depression was expected to become the ninth tropical storm of the hurricane season late on Monday. (Reporting by Jim Loney, editing by Tom Brown and Vicki Allen)

AlertNet news is provided by