Storm warning issued in Florida and islands
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. >> Tropical storm warnings were issued Friday for much of the Florida peninsula, Cuba and the Bahamas as a system that battered Mexico moves through the Gulf of Mexico, killing at least two in Cuba and bringing threats of heavy rain and wind for the weekend.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm once known as Agatha in the Pacific Ocean will be known as Alex in the Atlantic Ocean basin, once it reaches tropical storm status.
A Friday evening advisory from the hurricane center said the storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, just above the tropical storm threshold but it remained labled “potential tropical cyclone one” because it had few other characteristics that define such storms.
At 8 p.m., forecasters said the system was about 300 miles southwest of Fort Myers, Florida, moving at about 7 mph.
A Hurricane Center advisory said the system was expected to develop “a welldefined center and become a tropical storm” as it approaches Florida on Friday night and into today.
In Cuba, heavy downpours brought by the system caused landslides and accidents that left two people dead in the capital, Havana, state media reported. A person was also reported missing in Pinar del Río province after falling into a rain-swollen river. The country's Civil Defense organization said the main damages so far were to homes and the electricity system. The State electricity company said 50,000 clients were without power.
In Florida, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said most government services, such as bus routes and trains, planned to operate as normal over the weekend. Some events have been canceled, she said, and while there is no widespread anxiety about the storm it might be best to make indoor plans.
“If it isn't necessary to go out, it's probably better to stay home,” Levine Cava said at a news conference Friday.
The mayor added that canal levels in South Florida have been lowered to minimize flooding from heavy rains.
The storm warning affects both Florida's Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast, from just below Tampa Bay and Daytona Beach to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas. Parts of Cuba, including the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La Habana, and Mayabeque, and the northwestern Bahamas were also under a warning with tropical-storm-force conditions expected within 36 hours.