Miami – Tropical Storm Alex, the first-named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, gained a little more strength as it headed for Bermuda on Sunday after killing three people in Cuba and causing flooding in parts of Florida.
Alex reached the strength of a tropical storm early Sunday after stepping up off the east coast of Florida early Sunday.
Forecasters from the National Hurricane Center said at 2 a.m. EST (6 p.m. GMT) that Alex’s maximum constant wind had risen to 65 miles per hour (105 km / h) and was concentrated at about 475 miles (765 kilometers). west-southwest of Bermuda.
It was moving east-northeast at a fast speed of 23 miles per hour (37 km / h) and was expected to pass near or exactly north of Bermuda on Monday, where a tropical storm warning was in effect. Forecasters said it could bring 2 to 3 inches (50 to 75 mm) of rain to Bermuda late Sunday and Monday.
National Security Secretary Michael Weeks said emergency services were monitoring Alex.
In Cuba, the storm killed three people, damaged dozens of homes in Havana and cut off electricity in some areas, according to authorities. Heavy rain continued on Saturday, but decreased as the weather system moved away from the island.
Parts of South Florida were flooded by heavy rain and wind on Saturday. Miami officials have warned drivers about road conditions as many cars are stranded on flooded streets.
“This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Traveling in these conditions is not recommended. It is better to wait. “Turn around, don’t drown,” the city of Miami tweeted.
The city was pulling stranded vehicles off flooded roads.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said the storm had tested a system of drainage pumps recently installed in the city as climate change increasingly made flooding a problem in low-lying areas.
“We moved the water pretty quickly, but in some areas it was obviously a real challenge,” Gelber said. “There were problems crossing some streets, one of the main arteries was impassable, but in general the water is dissipated.
Alex emerged in part from the wreckage of Hurricane Agatha, which hit Mexico’s Pacific coast last week, killing at least nine people and leaving five unaccounted for.
The season of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean officially began on Tuesday. It’s an unusually early start to the storm season, but it’s not unprecedented for Florida.
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This story corrects that the storm formed over the Atlantic Ocean, not over the Gulf of Mexico, and also adjusts the official death toll in Mexico to nine.
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