Whoa! This early in the season?
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Tropical Storm Moves Swiftly Toward Gulf Coast
By SHADI RAHIMI
Published: June 10, 2005
Tropical Storm Arlene is moving swiftly north toward the United States Gulf Coast after soaking Cuba early today, rapidly nearing a region that is still recovering from the devastation of last year's hurricanes.
Video Report Tropical storm warnings have been posted from St. Marks, Fla., to Grand Isle, La., and a hurricane watch stretches from Pearl River to Panama City, Fla. A tropical storm warning has also been posted for the Dry Tortugas, a group of islands that make up a national park about 70 miles west of Key West.
Forecasters from the National Hurricane Service said today that Arlene, the first named tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, may reach hurricane strength while moving about 13 miles per hour toward the northern Gulf Coast, which it is expected to hit by Saturday. The storm has sustained winds of 60 m.p.h., up from 45 m.p.h. earlier today.
Arlene is then expected to travel north along the Mississippi-Alabama line, reaching Tennessee by Sunday evening.
"We're getting reports by freighter ships that waves are 13 to 14 feet in the gulf west of Key West," said Matt Strahan, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "But this isn't anything like Ivan, when waves were 40 to 60 feet. They've had to cancel fishing tournaments out here. Other than that, it's not that serious."
Last year, four hurricanes struck Florida within a few weeks - Ivan, Charley, Frances and Jeanne - during the hurricane season, which begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30. They caused about 130 deaths and about $22 billion in damages.
The most forceful impact from Arlene so far has been from the heavy rain extending 150 miles north and east of the storm's fairly disorganized center, which was about 180 miles west of Key West at 11 a.m. Eastern time, forecasters said.
The rains pouring on Cuba today as Arlene passed the island's westernmost tip helped to relieve the island's severe drought, The Associated Press reported. There have been no reports yet of damage or injury.
Rain and squalls, which are rapid increases in wind speed associated with thunderstorms, began hitting Florida on Thursday. In southern and central Florida today, 35-m.p.h. winds were gusting across the Florida Keys, The National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The areas may see tornadoes later today, and receive 3 to 5 inches of heavy rain.
Street flooding and beach erosion from the rains and six-foot high storm surges on the coast of Key West are also possible, forecasters said.
"The winds pile water up on the coast," Mr. Strahan said. "That causes flooding that can be pretty destructive because the moving water washes cars around and knocks them into buildings. If I lived in a house right on the beach, I wouldn't want to be in it."
No evacuations have been ordered by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is monitoring the storm.
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