Tropical storm warning for parts of Florida, Cuba, Bahamas

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida: Tropical storm warnings were issued early on Friday for much of the Florida peninsula, Cuba and the Bahamas as a system that battered Mexico moves through the Gulf of Mexico, bringing threats of heavy rain and wind for the weekend.

The National Hurricane Centre in Miami said the storm once known as Agatha in the Pacific Ocean will be known as Alex in the Atlantic Ocean basin.

An advisory posted early Friday noted that data from a hurricane hunter aircraft indicate the system’s maximum sustained winds had increased overnight and it was expected to develop “a well-defined center and become a tropical storm” as it approaches Florida, the hurricane centre said.

A system becomes a tropical storm when winds reach 62 kph.

At 5am local time, the system was located about 676 kilometres southwest of Fort Myers and was moving northeast at ten km/h.

Some strengthening is possible as the system approaches Florida on Friday afternoon and evening, the advisory said.

The National Hurricane Centre predicts that rainfall up to 25 centimetres is possible in South Florida, including the Florida Keys.

The storm is not expected to produce huge winds or major storm surge. But local flooding is likely and winds could be somewhat strong.

“Heavy rains will begin to affect South Florida and the Keys Friday and continue through Saturday,” the Hurricane Center said in an online post. Also predicted is storm surge and flooding, the severity of which depends on the timing of tides.

As a Pacific storm, Hurricane Agatha caused flooding and mudslides that killed at least 11 people and left 20 missing in Mexico, officials said.