The threat of tropical depression nine continues to move closer to us and by tonight, conditions are expected to deteriorate with the worst conditions still expected to approach the Big Bend Thursday evening.
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The watch area includes the Georgia cities of Brunswick and St. Marys. The storm is expected to cross northern Florida and southeast Georgia on Friday.
Forecasters said Hurricane Madeline weakened to a Category 1 storm Tuesday night. Coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas are expected to receive storm total rainfall of 4 to 7 inches, with local amounts of 10 inches possible through Saturday morning.
A Hurricane Watch is in effect for Anclote River to Indian Pass in Florida. It’s also forecast to become a tropical storm later today.
Meanwhile, a tropical depression that skirted by North Carolina’s Outer Banks overnight is now moving northeastward further out into the Atlantic.
Residents on some islands and other low-lying, flood-prone areas in Florida had been urged to clear out Thursday.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott warned of the danger of strong storm surges, high winds, downed trees and power outages, and urged people to move to inland shelters if necessary and make sure they have enough food, water and medicine.
“Well, the sun has been shining and we’ve been hearing about this storm for two days”, Jennifer Bange, 43, of Painted Post, New York, said Tuesday afternoon.
The National Weather Service said early Wednesday morning that the tropical depression was moving away from the state.
“Our teams state wide and locally are ready”. He said an unknown number were taken to area hospitals with injuries that weren’t thought to be life-threatening.
An emergency management official says North Carolina’s Outer Banks were spared from a tropical weather system that had been moving toward the state for two days. Byron Miller, manager of The Ocracoke Harbor Inn, said in a telephone interview that “it’s just a normal day”.
(AP Photo/Chris O’Meara). Spyridon Aibejeris, left, helps his neighbors pull out a trailer off their property along the Gulf of Mexico in advance of Tropical Storm Hermine Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, in Keaton Beach, Fla. The National Hurricane Center described the weather system as “disorganized”.
In Pasco County, north of Tampa, authorities said flooding forced 18 people from their homes in Green Key and Hudson Beach.
In Tallahassee, high winds knocked trees onto several houses injuring residents inside, fire-rescue spokesman Mike Bellamy said.
Forecasters earlier had anxious the area could get up to 5 inches of rain as the storm passed near the coast.
The National Hurricane Center has issued a Hurricane Watch for parts of Florida. As it leaves Cuba later today and moves into the eastern Gulf of Mexico it is likely to become more organized.
The approaching system, now an unnamed tropical depression packing 35 miles per hour (55 kph) winds with higher gusts, is expected to strengthen as it heads east. Forecasters said it could be near hurricane strength at landfall.
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We will have the potential for more heavy rainfall moving south to north throughout the night, then SSW to NNE Wednesday afternoon. “I’ve been in this area for 30 years but I’ve never seen it like this”, Chason said.
