Miami
Isaias roared closer to the Florida coast Sunday, threatening to bring strong winds, flash flooding and storm surges but no longer expected to regain hurricane strength.
The tropical storm was packing sustained winds of 70 miles (110 kilometers) per hour Sunday evening as it moved northwest off the state’s east coast, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Florida’s coast was experiencing heavy wind gusts. The NHC said “some fluctuations in strength” are possible in the next two days, but Isaias is not expected to regain its hurricane status. At 8:00 pm, the storm was 55 miles (90 kilometers) from America’s Cape Canaveral space center, moving northwest at nine miles per hour, the Miami-based NHC said.
It said the center of Isaias was expected to move “near or over the east coast of Florida today through late tonight” before moving on Monday and Tuesday into the Atlantic. The storm earlier dumped torrential rain on the Bahamas, felling trees and flooding some streets, before emergency management officials on Sunday gave the “all clear” for the entire country. But Isaias claimed at least one life in Puerto Rico.
Tropical storm warnings were in effect from central-eastern Florida to North Carolina, and the NHC warned on Twitter that Isaias could “bring a storm surge of up to 4 feet to coastal parts of South and North Carolina.”
As Florida battened down, it was also battling its coronavirus outbreak, which has complicated preparations. It has the second-highest caseload of all states except California — which has double the population.—APP
