If you had been excited about going to the seashore immediately, or heading out on a ship, National Weather Service meteorologist Stephen Shiveley mentioned, “Just don’t.”
Thunderstorms will begin coming onshore after 6 p.m. and can worsen via early Sunday. Waterspouts and tornadoes are attainable, and as much as 4 inches of rain is anticipated in some areas. Wind gusts may hit 50 mph.
Flooding is anticipated to peak at excessive tide, round 4 a.m. Sunday, with three-foot surges.
“No one should be on the water today,” Shiveley mentioned. “We’ve issued gale warnings. And we’ll be seeing high surf and rip currents through Monday.”
This morning, forecasters upgraded the coastal flood watch to an advisory. But the surge is anticipated to be lower than 5 ft. If greater than that’s anticipated, it could be a flood warning, Shiveley mentioned.
![People walk along the shoreline as rain falls along Indian Rocks Beach.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4596 3064"/%3E "People walk along the shoreline as rain falls along Indian Rocks Beach.")
About three inches of rain is anticipated to fall by morning, he mentioned, “which should help with the drought we’ve been experiencing.”
Flooding ought to be principally confined to coastal areas. “The Alafia River, at U.S. 301 in Riverview, is the only inland area we’re concerned about,” Shiveley mentioned. “It could rise to five feet and impact that bridge.”
The unnamed December storm is brought on by a low-pressure system, like a hurricane. It’s not uncommon, the meteorologist mentioned. “But it is unusual.”
It began with a chilly entrance, which stalled over Cuba final week. “Then we had upper-level energy which helped push that low pressure front toward us,” Shiveley mentioned early Saturday. “That’s what we’re seeing right now.”
St. Petersburg’s sandbag distribution heart opened at 1744 ninth Ave. N. The website is usually open Monday via Friday yr spherical however is opening immediately due to the approaching storm.
There had been two time frames for distribution. The first window lasted from midday till 3 p.m. for neighborhoods impacted by Hurricane Idalia. That supplied precedence access to sandbags for Shore Acres, Riviera Bay and Coquina Key residents.
Until 6 p.m. immediately, all metropolis residents can get access to a restricted provide of sandbags.
St. Petersburg residents can decide up a most of 10 sandbags per family, with proof of residency. The website has automated machines to assist with bagging and employees are readily available to supply additional help.
In the primary two hours that the middle was open Saturday, employees loaded 205 sandbags into a gentle stream of automobiles, mentioned Marshall Hampton, who was overseeing the distribution. Many residents’ properties had flooded over the last two hurricanes. Some had been nonetheless present process renovations, and had storage items of their yards.
![Keep up with Tampa Bay’s top headlines](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 620 620"/%3E "Keep up with Tampa Bay’s top headlines")
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“The units are often in the lowest lying areas,” Hampton mentioned. “They’re getting sandbags to protect what they were able to salvage from the last storm.”
![A sign helps direct residents on where to get sandbags in St. Petersburg.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 5959 3973"/%3E "A sign helps direct residents on where to get sandbags in St. Petersburg.")
Helena Rowan, 28, went to the warehouse together with her neighbor. They every had greater than three inches of water of their Shore Acres properties solely months in the past, and had been attempting to guard what they might. “Hopefully we won’t need them,” she mentioned. “This is crazy. It’s not even hurricane season!”
The worst of the storm will likely be in a single day, the meteorologist mentioned. By Sunday afternoon, clouds will clear and the solar ought to be again.
But cooler, drier air will seemingly stick round via subsequent week, with temperatures plummeting to the 40s by Tuesday.
Pasco County is providing fill-your-own sandbags at three websites:
- 7223 Massachusetts Ave. in New Port Richey
- 30908 Warder Road in San Antonio
- 14333 Hicks Road in Hudson.
Residents need to convey their very own shovels.
