'Tropical
Depression One' kicks up in Caribbean Sea
AFP
MIAMI
Petroleumworld.com,
06 10 06
The first tropical depression of the 2006 Atlantic
hurricane season has formed in the northwestern
Caribbean Sea, US forecasters said Saturday.
They warned of heavy rainfall, potential flash floods
and mudslides in western Cuba, the Cayman Islands
and western Florida, as the system moves north,
then curves east, according to predictions, over
the next two days.
Tropical depressions can strengthen into tropical
storms and then hurricanes, bringing the possibility
of the first named storm of the 2006 season just
days after its start.
The storm was 80 kilometers (50 miles) south-southwest
of the western tip of Cuba at 1300 GMT Saturday,
moving north-northwest at 19 kilometers (12 miles)
per hour, with maximum sustained winds near 55 kilometers
(35 miles) per hour.
"Some strengthening is forecast during the
next 24 hours, and the depression could become a
tropical storm later today," the National Hurricane
Center said in an advisory.
Weather experts have forecast between eight to 10
hurricanes -- six of them major -- during the official
June 1-November 30 hurricane season.
Last year, Hurricane Katrina killed 1,300 people
and displaced tens of thousands along the US Gulf
coast. New Orleans is still battling to recover,
and engineers have warned its levees could not withstand
another battering.
AFP
06 10 06
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©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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