The first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season got a little stronger today as it headed toward Florida's western coast and a new tropical storm warning was issued for a swath of the US East Coast.
Tropical Storm Andrea's maximum sustained winds increased to near 95 kph and the storm was expected to reach Florida's Big Bend area later in the day before moving across southeastern Georgia and the Carolinas.
Forecasters say Andrea could bring 3 to 6 inches of rain to the Florida Panhandle and southeastern Georgia, with isolated areas seeing as much as 8 inches.
Tropical storm warnings were in effect for a large section of Florida's west coast from Boca Grande to Indian Pass and for the East Coast from Flagler Beach, Florida, all the way to Cape Charles Light in Virginia.
As of about 1430 IST, the storm was centered about 355 kilometers west-southwest of Tampa and was moving north-northeast near 20 kph.
In Florida, Gulf Islands National Seashore closed its campgrounds and the road that runs through the popular beach-front park yesterday.
The national seashore abuts Pensacola Beach and the park road frequently floods during heavy rains. On Pensacola Beach, condominium associations asked people to remove furniture on high balconies because of the expected high winds and beach lifeguards warned tourists of possible high surf.
A forecast map predicts the storm will continue along the East Coast through the weekend before heading out to sea again, though a storm's track is often hard to predict days in advance.
