Heavy downpours and intense rains left at least two dead on Friday in western Cuba. Earlier, from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, a tropical storm alert was issued for Cuba, the Bahamas and Florida, where a tropical system is headed.
The Cuban official media detailed that the two deaths occurred in Havana and were the product of a landslide and an accident. There is also a missing person in the province of Pinar del Río. This person is believed to have fallen into a swollen stream.
Earlier, the National Hurricane Center in Miami indicated that the storm named Agatha in the Pacific Ocean that hit Mexico last week and is feeding this system will now be called Alex in the Atlantic.
In an afternoon advisory, the center reported that the agency was gaining speed in a northeasterly direction and had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph), just above the tropical storm threshold.
At 5 p.m., forecasters said the storm was located about 350 miles (560 kilometers) southwest of Fort Myers, Florida, and was moving about 7 mph (11 km/h).
An advisory from the National Hurricane Center said the system is expected to develop “a well-defined center and become a tropical storm” as it approaches Florida on Friday night and into Saturday.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said most government services, such as bus routes and trains, are scheduled to operate as normal through the weekend. Some events have been cancelled, she noted, and while there isn’t widespread concern the storm might be better to plan indoors.
“If you don’t need to go out, it’s probably best to stay home,” Levine Cava said at a news conference on Friday.
The mayor added that the level of the canals in South Florida has been lowered to minimize flooding caused by heavy rains.
The storm warning affects the Florida coast on the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast, from just below Tampa Bay and Daytona Beach to the Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas. Parts of Cuba are also under warning, including the provinces of Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Havana and Mayabeque, and the northwestern Bahamas, where tropical storm conditions are expected within 36 hours.
From Cuba it was reported in the afternoon that several houses were affected. The state electricity company added that there was damage to the energy system and there were some 50,000 customers without power. The prime minister, Manuel Marrero, indicated that there had been some 40 landslides in Havana.
Cuba’s top meteorology expert, José Rubiera, warned that May’s downpours had already saturated the ground. so these rains will bring flooding in low-lying areas with poor drainage.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially began on Tuesday. This is an unusually early start, but not unprecedented for Florida.
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AP journalist in Havana, Andrea Rodríguez, contributed to this story.
Anderson from St. Petersburg, Florida.
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