Tropical Storm Sally Drenches South Florida On Its Way To Gulf Of Mexico
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Tropical Storm Sally formed on Saturday afternoon drenching South Florida, as it continued to move to the Gulf of Mexico.
Sally was moving into the Gulf of Mexico by later Saturday or by Sunday and eventually become a Category 1 hurricane.
With the 5 p.m. Saturday advisory, Sally was about 30 miles south southeast of Naples. It had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and was moving west at 7 mph.
Florida Power & Light reported at least 2 thousand power outages because of Sally. In Broward, there were 561 customers without power and and in Miami-Dade, there were 1,562.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles south and southeast of the center, just to the south of the Florida Keys.
A flood watch remains in effect for Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties through Sunday morning.
Forecasters also expect strong wind gusts for our area.
Sally is expected to produce through Tuesday rainfall of 3 to 6 inches with localized amounts of 8 inches along the Gulf Coast from the Florida Peninsula to southeast Louisiana and 2 to 4 inches farther inland over far southern Alabama, Mississippi and southeast Louisiana.
This is expected to be a slow-moving system that will likely continue to produce heavy rainfall and considerable flooding near the central Gulf Coast through the middle of next week. Flash, urban and rapid onset flooding along small streams and minor to isolated moderate flooding on rivers is likely.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Paulette had maximum sustained winds at 70 mph and was 510 miles southeast of Bermuda, where a hurricane watch and tropical storm warning are in effect. Forecasters said Paulette would become a hurricane later Saturday and drop up to 6 inches of rain on the territory through Monday, adding that it is expected to be a "dangerous hurricane" when it is near Bermuda on Sunday night and Monday.
Tropical Storm Rene weakened in recent hours and was reclassified as a tropical depression. It had maximum sustained winds at 35 mph and was 1,225 miles east-northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands. Forecasters said Rene wasn't expected to strengthen and did not pose any threat to land.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
