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Tropical Storm Fred strengthens slightly as it heads toward western Florida Panhandle

NHC Track for Fred (Copyright 2021 by WJXT News4Jax - All rights reserved.)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The National Hurricane Center said Fred regained its tropical storm status in the Gulf of Mexico early Sunday as parts of the Caribbean were gearing up for impacts from Tropical Storm Grace.

At 11 p.m. Sunday, Fred’s maximum sustained winds strengthened slightly to 50 mph as the system was about 200 miles south of Panama City, moving north-northwest at 9 mph.

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Fred was forecast to move across the Gulf before reaching the western Florida Panhandle on Monday afternoon or Monday night, forecasters said. They said people from Alabama to the central Florida Panhandle should monitor the system’s progress.

A Tropical Storm Warning is now in effect for the coast of the Florida Panhandle from Navarre to the Wakulla/Jefferson County line. A Storm Surge Warning has been extended for the coast of the Florida Panhandle from Indian Pass to Yankeetown. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the coast of the Florida Panhandle from the Alabama/Florida border to Navarre.

Anticipating Fred, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for the state’s Panhandle region. And Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statement Saturday saying her administration was monitoring the weather and “will be ready to act from the state level if needed.”

Fred had been downgraded to a tropical wave on Saturday. Tropical waves can contain winds and heavy rain, but do not circulate around a center point or an “eye” like a tropical storm or hurricane.

Fred was forecast to bring 4 to 8 inches to the Big Bend of Florida and the Panhandle from Sunday night into Tuesday.

A tropical storm earlier in the week, Fred had weakened 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 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.