A re-energized Tropical Storm Cristobal on Saturday advanced toward the US Gulf Coast, spawning a tornado in Florida and bringing the heavy rains that already caused flooding and mudslides in Mexico and Central America.
After weakening to a tropical depression while moving over land in Mexico’s Gulf coast, Cristobal on Friday headed back into the southern Gulf of Mexico from the Yucatan Peninsula and powered back up into a tropical storm.
Forecasters said it would arrive on US soil late yesterday, but was not expected to grow into a hurricane.
Photo: Reuters
The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm was expected to slowly strengthen until making landfall last night along the US Gulf Coast.
However, the storm already made its presence felt on Saturday evening, spawning a tornado that touched down near downtown Orlando, Florida, the US National Weather Service said.
The twister just missed a group of protesters at Lake Eola at about 7:30pm. There appeared to be no injuries, but tree limbs were knocked down, and there were reports of power outages.
“Yes, it is related to the tropical storm that is well to our west,” said Scott Kelly, a meteorologist with the weather service in Melbourne, Florida. “But the tropical storm provided a lot of low-level shear and that has allowed for some tornadoes to form over Central Florida.”
The threat for tornadoes would continue overnight, he said.
Cristobal’s maximum sustained winds had strengthened to 85kph by early Saturday and it was moving north at 19kph.
The hurricane center said the storm could cause heavy rains from East Texas to Florida into early this week.
A tropical storm watch was posted for the northern Gulf of Mexico coast from Intracoastal City, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida border.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency to prepare for the storm’s possible arrival.
“Now is the time to make your plans, which should include the traditional emergency items along with masks and hand sanitizer as we continue to battle the coronavirus pandemic,” Edward said in a statement released on Thursday.
The hurricane center’s forecast path puts Alabama on Cristobal’s east side, far from where the center was expected to come ashore. Still, the southwest part of the state was expected to get gusty winds, heavy rain, storm surge and possibly tornadoes as the storm moved closer to the coast.
“Sunday will be very wet and windy as Cristobal passes west of the area, placing the central Gulf Coast on the ‘dirty’ eastern side of the storm,” the weather service said.
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