Tropical Depression Fred continued to dump heavy rain over parts of Cuba on Friday as the system slogs toward the Florida Keys, where it’s expected to hit Saturday.
Meanwhile, another system in the Atlantic, Potential Tropical Cyclone Seven, was forecast to become Tropical Storm Grace by Saturday as it nears the Caribbean.
A tropical storm warning has been issued for the Florida Keys and Florida Bay as Fred approaches. A warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within 36 hours.
“There is a good chance for two landfalls in the U.S. with Fred, with the first likely in the Florida Keys early Saturday and the second likely over northern Florida by early next week,” AccuWeather meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.
In addition to the tropical storm warnings in the Florida Keys, tropical storm watches were in effect from Englewood to Ocean Reef, Florida, on the peninsula.
The National Hurricane Center said 3 to 7 inches of rain were expected across the Florida Keys and southern peninsula by Monday, with isolated maximums of 10 inches. The National Weather Service in Miami issued a flood watch for all of South Florida due to the expected heavy rainfall.
As of 11 a.m., Fred was about 270 miles southeast of Key West with 35 mph winds and was moving west-northwest at 12 mph.
The cyclone is expected to regain tropical storm strength in the warm Florida Straits Friday before reaching the Keys early Saturday as a 45-mph tropical storm, forecasters said.
After spending a brief time as a tropical storm earlier this week, Fred weakened back to a depression by its spin over Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where it knocked out power to some 400,000 customers and caused flooding that forced officials to shut down part of the country’s aqueduct system, interrupting water service for hundreds of thousands of people.
Local officials reported hundreds of people were evacuated and some buildings were damaged. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Fred became the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season late Tuesday as it moved past the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
Behind Fred, the hurricane center said Potential Tropical Cyclone Seven will become Tropical Storm Grace on Saturday. Tropical storm watches have been hoisted for some of the Leeward Islands.
The disturbance was about 840 miles east of the Lesser Antilles early Friday. It could reach portions of the Leeward Islands Saturday night and the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Sunday.
Contributing: Kimberly Miller, The Palm Beach Post; The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tropical Depression Fred takes aim on Florida Keys
