Residents of western Florida heaved a sigh of relief on Tuesday as Tropical Storm Alberto appeared increasingly unlikely to strengthen into this year’s first Atlantic hurricane.
”There is now only a slight possibility that Alberto will become a hurricane prior to landfall,” said Richard Pasch, a forecaster with the National Hurricane Centre.
At 8am local time, the centre of the storm was 120kph west-northwest of Cedar Key, Florida, packing sustained winds of 100kph.
It was expected to make landfall in western Florida at about noon on Tuesday.
With memories of last year’s killer hurricanes still fresh, authorities took no chances, ordering the evacuation of about 20 000 people living in mobile homes and low-lying areas, though local media said numerous residents chose to ignore the order.
State Governor Jeb Bush, a brother of the United States president, on Monday decreed a state of emergency, which allows him to mobilise emergency personnel and National Guard troops.
Parts of western Florida were put under a hurricane warning, including the city of Tampa, where a small plane slammed into a house on Monday, killing one person. Authorities said it was unclear whether the severe weather already affecting the area played a role in the crash.
Alberto is the first Atlantic tropical storm since last year’s record-smashing season of 28 named storms, 15 of which became hurricanes.
Several of the hurricanes blasted across Florida, including the season’s worst, Katrina, which left 1 300 people dead and tens of thousands homeless along the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The city of New Orleans is still struggling to recover and engineers have warned its levees may not withstand another Katrina-style battering.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially started on June 1 and lasts until November 30.
US weather experts are forecasting between eight to 10 hurricanes — as many as six of them major — would form in the Atlantic basin this year. — AFP