Tropical Storm Katrina could hit south Florida as hurricane

MIAMI — Tropical Storm Katrina took aim at south Florida on Wednesday, with Broward County at dead center, and could hit before dawn Friday as a weak hurricane — but one soggy enough to flood streets with up to a foot of rain.

“We can get torrential rainfall from this system,” said Lixion Avila, a National Hurricane Center forecaster.

“Big, big rainfall,” echoed center director Max Mayfield.

Squalls are expected to roll into Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties Thursday evening, followed by stronger tropical-storm winds by midnight. Hurricane-force gusts could begin around 6 a.m. Friday if the storm’s predicted pace and track hold.

Forecasters said Katrina was starting to muscle up as it began curving westward from the central Bahamas into the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, which could provide enough fuel for winds of more than 74 mph — Category 1 hurricane strength.

But forecasters and emergency managers said the biggest concern is just how wet the wallop might be. Much of the state south of Vero Beach could be in for a long and possibly damaging soaking through Saturday morning.

The potential “area of uncertainty” for landfall stretched 160 miles, with the official track of the storm’s eye pointed toward the Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach area.

Katrina, which morphed quickly from disorganized wave to hurricane threat, seemed to catch much of south Florida by surprise.

Early in the day, stores were calm. By Wednesday evening, the rush was on from Kendall to Fort Lauderdale, with lines and long waits for everything from gas to water jugs.