Tropical Storm Fred strengthens slightly as it heads toward western Florida Panhandle

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The National Hurricane Center said Fred regained its tropical tempest presumption successful the Gulf of Mexico aboriginal Sunday arsenic parts of the Caribbean were gearing up for impacts from Tropical Storm Grace.

At 11 p.m. Sunday, Fred’s maximum sustained winds strengthened somewhat to 50 mph arsenic the strategy was astir 200 miles southbound of Panama City, moving north-northwest astatine 9 mph.

Fred was forecast to determination crossed the Gulf earlier reaching the occidental Florida Panhandle connected Monday day oregon Monday night, forecasters said. They said radical from Alabama to the cardinal Florida Panhandle should show the system’s progress.

A Tropical Storm Warning is present successful effect for the seashore of the Florida Panhandle from Navarre to the Wakulla/Jefferson County line. A Storm Surge Warning has been extended for the seashore of the Florida Panhandle from Indian Pass to Yankeetown. A Tropical Storm Watch is successful effect for the seashore of the Florida Panhandle from the Alabama/Florida borderline to Navarre.

Anticipating Fred, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a authorities of exigency for the state’s Panhandle region. And Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a connection Saturday saying her medication was monitoring the upwind and “will beryllium acceptable to enactment from the authorities level if needed.”

Fred had been downgraded to a tropical question connected Saturday. Tropical waves tin incorporate winds and dense rain, but bash not circulate astir a halfway constituent oregon an “eye” similar a tropical tempest oregon hurricane.

Fred was forecast to bring 4 to 8 inches to the Big Bend of Florida and the Panhandle from Sunday nighttime into Tuesday.

A tropical tempest earlier successful the week, Fred had weakened to a slump by its rotation implicit Haiti and the Dominican Republic, wherever it knocked retired powerfulness to immoderate 400,000 customers and caused flooding that forced officials to unopen portion of the country’s aqueduct system, interrupting h2o work for hundreds of thousands of people. Local officials reported hundreds of radical were evacuated and immoderate buildings were damaged.