Storm Michael expected to hit Florida as
a hurricane midweek
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[October 08, 2018]
By Rich McKay and Jon Herskovitz
(Reuters) - Tropical Storm Michael is on
track to hit the Florida Panhandle midweek as a Category 2 hurricane
packing 100 miles per hour (160 kmh) or stronger winds, the U.S.
National Hurricane Center (NHC) said early Monday in an advisory.
The tropical storm is expected to swell into a Category 1 hurricane as
soon as Monday night or early Tuesday as it rolls into the U.S. Gulf of
Mexico, with winds of 70 mph, as of 5 a.m. eastern time, forecasters
said, just shy of being named a hurricane.
A storm is designated a Category 1 hurricane if it reaches speeds of 74
mph (119 km) or more, and a Category 2 hurricane at 96 mph (154 km) or
more on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in more than 20
counties along the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend on Sunday and has put
more than 5,000 National Guard soldiers on alert.
"Our state understands how serious tropical weather is and how
devastating any hurricane of tropical storm can be," Scott said in a
statement.
He advised Gulf Coast residents to prepare for possible evacuation
orders.
Michael battered parts of Mexico and Cuba with powerful winds and
drenching rains on Sunday and into early Monday as it churned in the
Caribbean.
The storm moved north on a path between Cozumel in southeastern Mexico
and the western tip of Cuba, the Miami-based hurricane center said.
A hurricane watch has been issued from the Alabama-Florida border
eastward to the Suwanee River, Florida.
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A man pulls a boat as Tropical Storm Michael approaches in Cancun,
Mexico, October 7, 2018. REUTERS/Israel Leal
Outer bands from Michael are expected produce as much as 4 inches
(10 cm) of rain through Tuesday in the Florida Keys, one of several
areas in the state devastated by Hurricane Irma last year.
After hitting Florida, the storm is then forecast to move northeast
along the Atlantic Coast and batter the Carolinas, which are still
recovering from Hurricane Florence last month. That hurricane killed
at least 50 people and caused billions of dollars in damage.
The Commodity Weather Group said on Sunday some oil rigs in the gulf
area may be evacuated as a precaution, which may slow down
operations but was not likely cause much interruption.
The Gulf of Mexico is home to 17 percent of U.S. crude oil and 5
percent of natural gas output daily, according to the U.S. Energy
Information Administration.
More than 45 percent of the nation's refining capacity is located
along the U.S. Gulf Coast, which also is home to 51 percent of total
U.S. natural gas processing capability.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Jon Herskovitz in Austin,
Texas; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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