Tropical Storm Barry Churns Toward Florida Panhandle
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
.c The Associated Press
PENSACOLA, Fla. (Aug. 5) - Tropical Storm Barry strengthened on Sunday as it
veered away from Louisiana and took aim at the Florida Panhandle.
A hurricane warning was posted Sunday morning for the Gulf Coast, extending
from Pascagoula, Miss., eastward to Florida's Ochlockonee River, near
Tallahassee, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm's peak sustained
wind speed increased to about 60 mph.
''We're now expecting it to reach land by Monday morning,'' National
Hurricane Center specialist Stacy Stewart said.
''Our official track brings it inland somewhere between Mobile, Ala., and
Pensacola, Fla.,'' hurricane center meteorologist Hugh Cobb said.
Forecasters expected 5 to 10 inches of rain across the Florida panhandle and
said isolated tornadoes were possible. Barry already had dumped more than a
foot of rain on parts of southern Florida when it crossed the state last week
on its way into the Gulf of Mexico.
A flood watch was in effect through Monday for southeast Alabama, and
southwest and south central Georgia, according to forecasters.
On the Alabama coast, emergency management officials met Sunday morning to
begin a storm watch. No mandatory evacuations had been ordered.
''Even if the storm does not reach hurricane status, the heavy rains that
come with a tropical storm are something to be wary of,'' said Orange Beach,
Ala., Fire Chief Mickey Robinson. ''Our ground is already pretty saturated
from the rain we had this week, so we'll have to watch all the low areas for
flooding.''
Beachgoers on the Alabama coast were warned to stay out of the water because
of the churning surf and rip tides. Aided by a northeasterly wind and a full
moon, Barry already has churned up 6- and 8-foot waves along the state's
shoreline, and the surf killed about 100 sea turtle hatchlings on Thursday.
Oil companies had evacuated nonessential personnel from offshore petroleum
rigs in the Gulf on Friday.
At 9 a.m. EDT, Barry was centered about 135 miles south of Fort Walton Beach
or 120 miles southwest of Apalachicola.
The storm was moving toward the north-northeast at about 6 mph and
forecasters expected a gradual increase in forward speed and a turn toward
the north later Sunday. Tropical storm force wind extended outward up to 105
miles from the center.
Storms are renamed hurricanes when their maximum sustained wind speed hits 74
mph.
Just one day earlier, the storm had been headed toward Louisiana. Its change
of course was a relief to Mayor David Camardelle of Grand Isle, La., who had
asked tourists to leave his island community at about noon Saturday.
''We're feeling a lot less stressful,'' said Sharon Cowan, whose husband is
pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Isle. ''We also feel a lot of concern
for the people in the path of the storm.''
However, southeast Louisiana was still likely to get high tides, showers and
thunderstorms, meteorologists said.
Barry is the second named storm of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season.
Gray Fox Weather Service (Tampa Bay)
http://grayfoxweather.8m.net
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