Fred’s tropical storm gained momentum on Monday when barreling towards Florida Panhandle, closing several schools in the middle of the “very dangerous” estimate of a surge of 5 meters (1.5 meters).
In the afternoon, a 50 mile (80 km) storm of South Apalachicola, Florida, said Robbie Berg, a storm specialist at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) based in Miami.
It is expected to make landings in the East Panhandle Florida area later on Monday.
The wind is in power up to 60 miles per hour (97 kph) but is not expected to reach a storm level of 74 miles per hour (119 kph).
“We are currently not forecasting it to achieve the strength of the storm.
It runs out of time because we think it will reach the beach later today,” said Berg.
“We think we can get a storm spike of 5 feet (1.5 meters) above the ground, so if you live in the area, it will be very dangerous,” said Berg.
In addition, heavy rains up to 12 inches (30 cm) in some isolated places in Florida are estimated, and heavy rain in Southeast Alabama, Georgia and West Carolina, said Senior Specialist Storm Richard Tasch.
But after the landing, the storm is expected to weaken quickly, Tasch said.
By the middle on Monday, a storm is around 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Apalachicola and moves north about 10 miles per hour (16 km per hour), according to NHC.
Fred is expected to take strength when traced through a warm Mexican Bay.
But after the landing, the storm is expected to weaken quickly, Tasch said.
Some school districts in West Florida were closed for that day, promised to be reopened on Tuesday.
“The bus cannot be safely transporting students with wind greater than 35 mph and current information shows that we can experience 35 mphs of wind gusts starting at around 1pm,” said the Santa Rosa County school district on the site.