Tropical depression Fred predicted to hit the Florida Keys on Saturday

Tropical Depression Fred continued to dump torrential rain in parts of Cuba on Friday as an “disorderly” storm system was hurtling toward a forecast landing Saturday in the Florida Keys. Meanwhile, another Atlantic system, Tropical Depression VII, was forecast to turn into Tropical Storm Grace on Saturday as it approached the Caribbean Sea, and a tropical storm warning was issued for the Florida Keys and Florida Bay as Fred approached. The warning means that a tropical storm is expected somewhere within the warning zone within 36 hours. “There is a good chance of two landfalls in the United States with Fred … likely in the Florida Keys early Saturday and a second likely over northern Florida by in addition to tropical storm warnings in the Florida Keys, AccuWeather meteorologist Bernie Rayno said Tropical storm hours were in effect from Englewood to Ocean Reef, Florida, on the peninsula. Rain is expected across the Florida Keys and the southern peninsula by Monday, with a maximum of 10 inches. The National Weather Service in Miami issued a flood watch for all The hurricane center warned “not to focus on a uniquely accurate forecast path as heavy rain, high winds and the chance of hurricanes will extend far” to the northeast and east from the center, and those risks are likely to continue to affect parts of the peninsula. Florida.” As of 11 p.m. EDT, Fred was about 150 miles southeast of Key West with maximum winds of 35 mph. It was moving westward at 12 mph, meteorologists said, and Fred is expected to regain tropical storm strength in the warm Florida straits early Saturday before hitting the Keys as a 40 mph tropical storm. After a brief stint as a tropical storm earlier this week, Fred is back in the doldrums as he swirled over Haiti and the Dominican Republic, cutting power to nearly 400,000 customers and causing flooding that forced officials to shut down part of the country’s canal system that cut service Water was provided to hundreds of thousands of people, and local officials reported that hundreds of people had been evacuated and some buildings damaged. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and Fred became the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season late Tuesday as it overtook the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. . Tropical storm hours have been raised for some Leeward Islands. The disturbance was about 540 miles east of the Lesser Antilles on Friday night and was moving west at 21 mph. The maximum wind speed was 35 miles per hour. It is expected to arrive in parts of the Leeward Islands later Saturday evening and the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Sunday and Monday. Contributing: Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post; Associated Press