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Tropical Storm Katrina aims at Florida

Posted on: Wednesday, 24 August 2005, 11:36 CDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Katrina formed in the central Bahamas on Wednesday and headed toward Florida's southern Atlantic Coast with the potential to become a hurricane.

Katrina was expected to hit the Miami area by Friday as a strong tropical storm or a weak hurricane, dumping up to 12 inches of rain on the southern tip of Florida as it moved slowly across the state into the Gulf of Mexico, forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Some isolated areas could get up to 20 inches of rain, said Jennifer Pralgo, a meteorologist at the hurricane center.

"It's going to soak us," Pralgo said.

With top winds of 40 mph (65 kph), Katrina was just over the threshold to become the 11th tropical storm of a busy Atlantic hurricane season. It was moving slowly over warm water, conditions that made it likely it could strengthen into a minimal hurricane with winds of at least 74 mph (118 kph).

A hurricane watch was issued for a 170-mile (270-km) stretch of Florida's densely populated southern Atlantic Coast from Florida City to Vero Beach, alerting residents to expect hurricane-force winds within 36 hours. The area includes the cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach.

Storm warnings and watches were also posted for part of the Florida Keys and the central and northern Bahamas.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), Katrina was centered about 50 miles east-southeast of Nassau, Bahamas, or about 230 miles east-southeast of Miami.

The storm was moving erratically northwest. Skies over the Bahamian capital of Nassau were gray and drizzly and Katrina was expected to drench the central and northwest Bahamas on Wednesday and batter the shore with large and dangerous waves.

Water managers in Florida were pumping vigorously to lower the water level in their drainage canals so the storm run-off would have somewhere to go.

"We're in 24-hour-a-day operations to adjust the canal levels roughly a foot in most areas," said Randy Smith, a spokesman for the South Florida Water Management District. "We know they're going to fill back up."

The district has been pumping water out almost steadily since September, when the last of four 2004 hurricanes hit Florida with record levels of rain. The state had an unusually wet winter -- normally the dry season -- followed by twice the normal rainfall in June, Smith said.

Most of the state is waterlogged as the June-through-November hurricane season approaches its traditional peak.

"We're in fairly good shape considering the situation we're in right now," Smith said. "It's really the next storm that we're concerned about."

Source: REUTERS

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