Tropical Storm Andrea Pounds Parts of Florida
The first named storm of the Atlantic season hammered Florida with rain, heavy winds, and tornadoes Thursday as it moved toward the coast of Georgia and the Carolinas, promising sloppy commutes and waterlogged vacation getaways through the beginning of the weekend.
Tropical Storm Andrea was losing speed late Thursday and not expected to strengthen into a hurricane but forecasters warned it could cause isolated flooding and storm surge over the next two days.
Tropical storm warnings were in effect late Thursday for the East Coast from Flagler Beach, Florida, to Cape Charles Light in Virginia, the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds and the lower Chesapeake Bay south of New Point Comfort. A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere inside the warning area within a day and a half. A warning for Florida's west coast was lifted late Thursday, but forecasters advised that heavy rains were continuing well away from the storm's center.
As of 11 p.m. EDT Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Andrea was about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Jacksonville, having made landfall hours earlier in Florida's Big Bend area. Andrea's maximum sustained winds had fallen to 45 mph (72 kph) and it was moving northeast at 15 mph (24 kph).
Rains and winds from the storm were forecast to sweep northward along the Southeastern U.S. coast Thursday night and Friday. The storm was expected to lose tropical characteristics Friday night as it moves through the eastern United States.
Source: Agence France Presse, Associated Press
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