Tropical Storm Alberto sloshes into Florida

TALLAHASSEE – Tropical Storm Alberto’s chances of becoming the first hurricane of 2006 receded yesterday as it crept toward Florida, dumping heavy rain on the deserted coastline and shuttered homes.

The storm’s centre was still over the Gulf of Mexico at 05h00, but heavy winds and rains lashed northwest Florida, where officials had ordered thousands of residents to evacuate barrier islands, flood plains and trailer parks. At 05h00, Alberto’s centre was about 95 km southeast of Apalachicola, in Florida’s panhandle, and moving northeast near 15 kph, the US National Hurricane Center said.Its maximum sustained winds had slowed to near 100 kph, below the 119 kph threshold at which tropical storms become hurricanes.”Although some potential still exists for restrengthening the likelihood that Alberto will become a hurricane prior to landfall is decreasing,” the hurricane centre said.The centre’s director, Max Mayfield, cautioned that Alberto was still capable of causing significant damage, however.”We don’t want to overdo this but we sure don’t want to underdo it either,” Mayfield told CNN.Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency even though the most likely area of landfall was sparsely populated swampland and farming country, with no big cities like New Orleans, devastated in August by Hurricane Katrina.Florida officials said 26 shelters in 16 counties had been opened for evacuees.- Nampa-ReutersAt 05h00, Alberto’s centre was about 95 km southeast of Apalachicola, in Florida’s panhandle, and moving northeast near 15 kph, the US National Hurricane Center said.Its maximum sustained winds had slowed to near 100 kph, below the 119 kph threshold at which tropical storms become hurricanes.”Although some potential still exists for restrengthening the likelihood that Alberto will become a hurricane prior to landfall is decreasing,” the hurricane centre said.The centre’s director, Max Mayfield, cautioned that Alberto was still capable of causing significant damage, however.”We don’t want to overdo this but we sure don’t want to underdo it either,” Mayfield told CNN.Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency even though the most likely area of landfall was sparsely populated swampland and farming country, with no big cities like New Orleans, devastated in August by Hurricane Katrina.Florida officials said 26 shelters in 16 counties had been opened for evacuees.- Nampa-Reuters