(Fort Lauderdale) Tropical storm warnings were issued Friday for most of the Florida Peninsula, Cuba and the Bahamas, as the former hurricane Agatha crosses the Gulf of Mexico after clubbing Mexico.
Posted at 1:34 p.m.
Heavy rains and strong winds are possible at the weekend.
The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm will be renamed Alex in the Atlantic.
Sustained winds generated by the storm intensified overnight Thursday through Friday. The US center expects a “well-defined core to form and become a tropical storm” as it approaches Florida, implying winds of at least 60 kilometers per hour.
By midday Friday, the storm was 675 kilometers southwest of Port Myers and was sliding northeast at 8 kilometers per hour.
The system could gain strength as it approaches Florida over the next few hours, the center said.
The warning affects both the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic coast of Florida, from Tampa Bay and Daytona Beach to the Keys and the Dry Tortugas.
Portions of Cuba ― including the northern provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La Habana and Mayabeque ― and the northwestern Bahamas have also been warned that tropical storm conditions are expected during the next 36 hours.
The Atlantic hurricane season started on Tuesday.
The National Hurricane Center predicts up to 10 inches of rain over southern Florida, including the Keys. The storm should not generate too strong winds or dangerous storm surge. Localized flooding is possible.
Cities and counties along the coast and in lower Florida areas, including Pembroke Pines and Miami-Dade County, were handing out sandbags to residents on Friday.
the hurricane Agatha caused flooding and mudslides that left at least 11 dead and 20 missing in Mexico.
Agatha is the most powerful hurricane to make landfall in May during the eastern Pacific hurricane season since 1949. Climatologists warn that such storms will become more powerful and more destructive due to climate change.