Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for the Panhandle region.
Tropical Storm Fred was intensifying Monday morning, with maximum sustained winds reaching almost 60 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported, as the storm barrels across the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to make landfall in the western Florida Panhandle Monday afternoon or early evening, bringing heavy rainfall and a potentially dangerous storm surges. Fred, which formed south of Puerto Rico, weakened as it made its way over Hispaniola last week. However, the storm regained its strength and was upgraded from a depression Sunday morning. According to the NHC, a storm surge warning means there is a “danger of life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline, during the next 36 hours in the indicated locations.
