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MIAMI: Tropical Storm Claudette hit northwestern Florida early Monday, lashing tourist resorts with strong winds and heavy rain as Tropical Storm Bill strengthened far in the Atlantic.
Emergency response teams were activated in the area of the Florida Panhandle Sunday as the region braced for possible flooding.
"The main threat from Tropical Storm Claudette is heavy downpours and isolated tornadoes today and tonight in the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend counties," the Florida Division of Emergency Management warned in a statement Sunday.
"Rainfall amounts of three to five inches (7.6 to 12.7 cm), with isolated maximum amounts up to 10 inches (25.4 cm) are possible near the centre."
Residents tried to kept inside in the face of choppy seas and pouring rain, but there was no massive stocking up of food or other emergency supplies, according to local media reports.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said Claudette - the first storm to make landfall this Atlantic hurricane season - packed sustained winds of 50 miles (85 kilometres) and moved inland near the Florida-Alabama border at about 12 miles per hour (19 kmh).
The storm hit dry land "near the eastern end of Santa Rosa Island, just southeast of Fort Walton Beach, Florida around 12:10 am" (0510 GMT), the NHC said.
Claudette appeared early Sunday in the Gulf of Mexico, popping up in relatively short order compared to most Atlantic hurricanes, which usually begin far from the US coast.
More threatening was Bill, which strengthened in the open Atlantic and was expected to reach hurricane status later Monday.
During pre-dawn hours Monday, the storm was still in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,320 miles (2,120 kilometres) east of the Lesser Antilles, the NHC said.
But it has increased its speed, moving west-northwest at about 20 mph (32 kmh) and displaying maximum sustained winds of near 70 mph (110 kmh) with higher gusts.
"Strengthening is forecast during the next day or two," the centre said in its advisory. "And Bill is forecast to become a hurricane on Monday."
Meanwhile, Ana, which formed as a tropical storm early Saturday, weakened to a tropical depression and crept toward the island of Hispaniola, prompting storm watches in the area.
However, its punch was expected to weaken even more, with US forecasters saying "Ana could degenerate into a tropical wave on Monday."
The trio had formed the season's first three named storm systems in the Atlantic.
In the Pacific, Hurricane Guillermo weakened, too. It was about to cross into the Central Pacific, with its centre located 995 miles (1,600 km) east of Hilo, Hawaii, moving west-northwest at about 14 mph (22 kmh), the NHC said.
With winds having decreased to near 85 mph (140 kmh), it was forecast to weaken to a tropical storm by Monday.
A tropical storm, which has winds of at least 39 mph (63 kmh), becomes a hurricane when its winds reach at least 74 mph (119 kmh).
The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1 and continues through November 30.
- AFP/yb
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