The National Hurricane Center said Saturday that a disturbance near the Bahamas has strengthened into Tropical Depression Nine and is expected to intensify into a tropical storm later in the evening, possibly reaching hurricane strength by early next week.
As of 11 a.m. ET, the system was about 115 miles south-southwest of the central Bahamas, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. Tropical storm warnings were issued for the central and northwestern Bahamas, while a tropical storm watch was posted along Florida’s east coast from Palm Beach County north to Volusia County.
Rainfall from the depression will also impact Cuba and Jamaica. The center said flash and urban flooding is likely, and mudslides are possible in higher terrain.
Coastal Georgia through the Carolinas and the southern mid-Atlantic states could see heavy rainfall that may cause flash flooding.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said the “time to prepare is now.”
"Not when the winds blowing and the rain is falling down and things are getting shoved around," he said, reminding people that the storm can change at a moment’s notice. "We cannot prepare for exactly what is going to happen, so we have to prepare for it all."
McMaster issued an emergency declaration on Friday. Justin Powell, with the state Department of Transportation, said they have been preparing equipment for the past two days.
The other storm, Hurricane Humberto, now a Category 4 storm with winds of 145 mph, is expected to remain a powerful major hurricane for several days, forecasters said. Though it is expected to stay out to sea, dangerous swells are forecast to hit the northern Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Bermuda and the U.S. East Coast beginning this weekend, bringing life-threatening surf and rip currents.
The forecast track shows a predicted path northwest and then north and northeast, passing between the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda, according to the hurricane center.
