"Relative to movement, the strongest side of a tropical cyclone is its east and south side."

Thats a little bit like preaching to the pastor - and not correctly stated. Relative to movement, the strongest sector of a hurricane is normally the right forward quadrant in the northern hemisphere. When the original post was made, the movement of Tomas suggested that landfall was possible over extreme eastern Cuba - where Guantanamo Bay is located. The post made no mention of rain - just the location that might experience the highest winds.

The core of hurricane force winds associated with Tomas only has a radius of 15 miles - quite small - so the only land areas that could possibly experience hurricane force winds are extreme eastern Cuba and Grand Turk island.
ED