Tropical depression moves toward Florida

MIAMI – A tropical depression in the Caribbean headed toward Florida on Saturday and was expected to become the first named storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season.

The depression formed nine days after the official start of the season, but the poorly organized system was not expected to become a hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.

“It will be relatively weak in terms of wind, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be weak in terms of rainfall,” senior hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart said.

The system, which had maximum sustained wind near 35 mph, would be named Alberto if it reaches the 39 mph threshold for a tropical storm.

Late Saturday, the depression was centered over the eastern Gulf of Mexico about 290 miles west southwest of Key West, Fla., forecasters said. It was moving north-northwest near 9 mph. The hurricane center recommended tropical storm warnings for the Cuban provinces of Pinar Del Rio and the Isle of Youth.

Over the next three days, the system is expected to move through the Yucatan Channel into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, then toward Florida where it could make landfall Monday or Tuesday somewhere between South Florida and the western tip of the Panhandle, forecasters said.

The depression’s outer rain bands stretched Saturday to the southern tip of Florida, and heavy rain was forecast over the state’s Gulf Coast and the Florida Keys through Monday.

State officials pleaded with residents to update their hurricane preparedness plans but most shrugged at the news.

“The media overplays this; they get people very scared,” said Tim Roberts, a Fort Lauderdale condo owner who was visiting Tallahassee. “Sure, when the time comes to be alarmed, yes, but don’t make more out of it until it’s time.”

Scientists predict the 2006 season could produce up to 16 named storms, six of them major hurricanes.

Last year’s hurricane season was the busiest and most destructive in recorded history. Hurricane Katrina alone devastated Louisiana and Mississippi and was blamed for more than 1,570 deaths in Louisiana alone.