Tropical Storm Fay hits Florida by Peter Gibbs
Tropical storm Fay pushed into the Key West area of Florida on Tuesday morning bringing torrential rain and winds of up to 60mph (97km/h).
The National Hurricane Center (NOAA) issued warnings right across Florida’s western, southern and central peninsula as forecasters were predicting between 100 to 250mm (4 to 10 inches) of rain. Originally, Fay was expected to reach Hurricane status (category one) before hitting the Florida coast, however Fay only intensified slightly and remained a powerful tropical storm. Officials evacuated over 25, 000 tourists from Key West ahead of the approaching storm on Monday.
With tropical storm Fay now remaining mostly over land, it looks unlikely that Fay will reach hurricane status, but the National Hurricane Center has warned that the storm could produce tornadoes across parts of the state through today. Fay is moving northwards at around 10mph (16km/h) and is expected to move up into northern Florida and Georgia later in the week bringing with it further heavy rain.
Meanwhile, out in the western Pacific, Typhoon Nuri has developed and deepened and is expected to make landfall across northern Luzon by Wednesday bringing torrential rain and sustained winds of around 120mph (190km/h). Once Typhoon Nuri leaves Luzon, it is expected to continue in a northeasterly direction which will bring it to southern China this coming weekend.
