A tropical depression over Cuba is growing better organized and is likely to bring drenching rain and coastal flooding to much of Florida's Gulf Coast, forecasters said Saturday. The storm strengthened into a tropical depression late Friday and is expected to become a tropical storm by Saturday night, once it has maximum sustained winds of 39mph or more. If the depression reaches tropical storm status, it would be named Debby, the fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Circulation was centered just south of Cienfuegos, Cuba, on Saturday morning, but associated wind and thunderstorms were spread out over a broad region, including southern Florida, the Florida Keys, and the Bahamas. One location in the middle of the Florida Keys island chain was reporting sustained winds of 30mph on Saturday morning.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami forecasts that the depression will strengthen as it curves northward off the southwest Florida coast, where the water has been extremely warm, with temperatures approaching 92 degrees Fahrenheit this week. Predictions show the system could come ashore as a strong tropical storm late Sunday or early Monday and cross over northern Florida into the Atlantic Ocean, where it's likely to remain a tropical storm threatening Georgia and the Carolinas early next week. Tropical storm warnings are posted for most of Florida's west coast and the Dry Tortugas. A hurricane watch is posted for parts of the Big Bend region, recognizing that there's a chance that Debby could reach hurricane status before coming ashore.
This storm is predicted to push up storm tides of 2 to 4 feet along most of Florida's Gulf Coast, including Tampa Bay, with a higher tide of 3 to 5 feet predicted farther north in Florida's sparsely populated Big Bend, where the Florida peninsula bends westward into the state's Panhandle region. Tropical storms and hurricanes can also trigger river flooding and overwhelm drainage systems and the region's canals. Forecasters are warning of 5 to 10 inches of rain, which could create "locally considerable" flash and urban flooding. Forecasters are also already warning of moderate flooding for some rivers along Florida's west coast. Some of the heaviest rains could actually come next week in a region along the Atlantic Coast from Jacksonville, Florida, north through Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina.
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