Officials from St. Pete Beach, Florida, are asking residents to not use the sewer system due to Tropical Storm Colin.
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Meanwhile, up to 2 inches of rain was expected to hit the barrier islands of North Carolina.
The National Weather Service says Tropical Storm Colin has made landfall and is bringing high winds and heavy rain to northern Florida.
The heaviest rain Tuesday will focus on coastal portions of South and North Carolina as Colin continues to skirt along the Southeast coast and heads out to sea, AccuWeather said. On the other hand, the forecasters said that they do not expect storm Colin’s wind speed to reach 74 miles per hour, which categorizes it as a hurricane.
Scott said in an interview that there were no reports of major damage, but the state will be tracking flooding from the sudden deluge of rain, much of which fell during high tides Monday. While tropical storm force winds still extended 230 miles to the southeast, forecasters reclassified Colin as a post-tropical storm. Isolated tornados are possible as temperatures are expected to reach 85 degrees. Orange-juice futures jumped to the highest in more than four years Monday on speculation that the storm would shrink the Florida crop. But it could lead to more mosquitoes.
The bridge, which spans Tampa Bay between Pinellas and Manatee counties, was shut down Monday. It’s unknown when it will reopen. He’s lived in Florida since the late 1970s and hasn’t ever prepared for a storm this early. Nine counties closed or postponed classes, after-school activities and, at two Tampa-area schools, graduation ceremonies. Both ceremonies will take place at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa.
Scott signed the order Monday morning. It came ashore in Florida early Tuesday, flooding many areas along the state’s Gulf of Mexico coastline.
“Central Florida will continue to see a couple squalls but nothing really outside some strong wind gusts and heavy rain”, Mr. Bragaw told the Orlando Sentinel.
Weather elsewhere around the country: Colin has weakened to a depression as it races away from the USA coast into the open Atlantic.
Scott declared a state of emergency in 34 counties.
The region remains under a flood watch through Thursday at 8 a.m.as the region could receive another 1-3 inches of rain on top of already saturated areas, 10News WTSP meteorologist Bobby Deskins said.
While Colin could strengthen some in the next 24 hours, it is expected to lose its tropical cyclone characteristics by tonight.
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Hazard Management Cayman Islands warned that 2016 was expected to be an active hurricane season, and so far TS Colin supports that forecast becoming the record-earliest third named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
