Tropical Storm Fred forecast to hit Florida as Grace menaces Haiti

MIAMI — A tropical depression passing near Bermuda is forecast to turn into Tropical Storm Henri soon.

Forecasters are also watching Tropical Storm Fred, which is bringing dangerous storm surge and flooding rain over portions of the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend Region ahead of its Monday landfall.

Tropical Storm Fred was moving north near 9 mph toward Florida’s Panhandle and is expected to make landfall in the eastern Florida Panhandle Monday afternoon or early evening. Heavy rain and dangerous storm surge are being felt along the coast of the Panhandle and Big Bend Region, according to the hurricane center.

Schools in Bay, Okaloosa, Walton and Santa Rosa counties have canceled classes and after school activities Monday in preparation for Fred, according to CNN. Classes are expected to resume Tuesday.

Hispaniola — the island where Haiti and the Dominican Republic are located — is also bracing for possible flash flooding and mudslides from Tropical Depression Grace.

A tropical storm warning was issued for the Cayman Islands and for parts of Cuba’s southern coast, including the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Las Tunas and Camaguey. A tropical storm watch was issued for the provinces of Ciego de Avila,

Sancti Sipirtus, Cienfuegos, and Matanzas, as well as Isla de la Juventud.

A tropical storm watch remains in effect for Jamaica and the entire coast of Haiti, which is still reeling from Saturday’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake that has killed about 1,300 people. The tropical storm watch for the Dominican Republic was discontinued.

Tropical Depression Eight was about 140 miles southeast of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph with higher gusts. It’s moving toward the south and is expected to make a “slow clockwise turn” toward the southwest and then toward the west during the next couple of days though there is some disagreement on how sharp the turn will be, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The system is forecast to strengthen into a tropical storm sometime Monday and will move well to the south of Bermuda, according to the hurricane center. Bermuda, which is under a tropical storm watch, should expect to feel tropical storm conditions on Tuesday, particularly to the south of the island.

A model that has been a “notable high outlier” in several cases this year suggests the storm will strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane in the next two to three days though “given the expected shear, that solution does not appear likely at this point,” the hurricane center said.