Tropical Storm Fred weakens, but remains dangerous as it crosses Florida Panhandle
Tropical Storm Fred weakened slightly late Monday afternoon as it moved inland through the Florida Panhandle, its top winds falling to 50 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 8 p.m. update.
Fred is forecast to maintain tropical storm strength for at least another 12 hours, although its top wind speed will be down to 40 mph by then. By Tuesday morning, the storm will have weakened to a tropical depression, a storm with a wind speed of 38 mph or less, the hurricane center said.
Meanwhile, however, it’s bringing heavy rain and “a dangerous storm surge” to the Florida Panhandle, the hurricane center said.
The storm made landfall
near Cape San Blas in the eastern Florida Panhandle, pounding the region with heavy rain and 65 mph winds, according to a 2:15 p.m. Monday bulletin issued by the National Hurricane Center. Fred already has produced a 3½-foot storm surge around Apalachicola, according to the hurricane center.
Fred could bring 6 to 10 inches of rain to the Panhandle, with heavy rain continuing up through Georgia and Tennessee, said Ken Graham, director of the National Hurricane Center.
“You could get roads flooded, you could get heavy rainfall,” he said. “Just a dangerous situation associated with this tropical rainfall.”
Fred could bring storm surge of 1 to 5
feet in the Panhandle, particularly along the Florida-Alabama border to Indian Pass. The deepest water was expected near and to the east of Cape San Blas, where Fred made landfall.
As of 8 p.m. Monday, Fred was 15 miles south of Marianna, moving north-northeast at 10 mph. Fred is forecast to move from western Georgia today across the Appalachian Mountains to West Virginia by Wednesday, the hurricane center said. Tropical-storm-force winds extended from Fred’s center up to 115 miles.
There was also a chance that tornadoes could form on Florida’s west coast and the coastal Panhandle, forecasters said.
More than 20 Florida counties were under a state of emergency due to Tropical Storm Fred. Fred became the sixth named storm of the season when it formed late on Aug. 10 south of Puerto Rico. It was the first named storm to form in the Atlantic since
Hurricane Elsa moved through the Gulf of Mexico in early July.
Forecasters were also monitoring Depression Storm Grace, which formed Saturday, and was beginning to batter Haiti and the Dominican Republic today. It is expected to become the season’s second hurricane.
Also, Tropical Storm Henri formed Monday from Tropical Depression Eight, located north-northeast of Bermuda. Today, forecasters expect upper-level winds might cause wind shear that will hinder storm development.
The next storm name after Henri is Ida. Hurricane season’s busiest period, runs from mid-August, reaches a peak around Sept. 10 and winds down in October.
Forecasters expect this to be an above-average hurricane season, with NOAA predicting up to 10 hurricanes by the time the season ends Nov. 30.