Storm Alberto weakens as it nears Florida
Subtropical Storm Alberto weakened as it neared landfall on the Florida Panhandle on Monday, a day after flooding from another storm tore through a historic Maryland town and swept away a would-be rescuer, officials said.
Forecasters said Alberto could bring life-threatening high water to southern coastal states when it slams an area from Mississippi to western Georgia with up to 30 cm of rain and possible tornadoes.
Alberto's top winds fell slightly to 96 km per hour with the storm about 80 kph south of Panama City, Florida, the National Weather Service said. It was expected to reach land Monday afternoon or evening as it headed north at about 13 kph.
"The basic idea is that it's going to run out of real estate for it to strengthen" by picking up energy from the warm Gulf of Mexico waters, said Dan Petersen, a forecaster with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
Alberto, the first named Atlantic storm of 2018, spun up days before the formal June 1 start of the hurricane season.
Authorities in Florida's Franklin and Taylor counties issued mandatory evacuation orders for thousands of coastal residents. Florida, Alabama and...