Another hurricane threat looms over southeast US

Currently located off the east coast of Nicaragua, Tropical Depression 16 is threatening heavy rainfall over parts of Central America.

Over the next couple of days the tropical depression is expected to gather strength as it heads northward, and once it becomes a tropical storm it will be known as Nate.

By mid-day Saturday, the National Hurricane Center predicts that Nate will become a hurricane and make a turn towards the southeast U.S. The latest forecast cone shows that the storm could make landfall Sunday somewhere along the southern coasts of Mississippi, Alabama or the panhandle of Florida.

While it is too early yet to predict what the strength of the storm will be by Sunday — possible land interaction with Central America or the Yucatan Peninsula in southeastern Mexico could impact its intensity Weather.com points out — it is heading in the direction of areas impacted by hurricanes that hit the U.S. in the late summer and could cause further damage.

“In all likelihood, this storm will impact areas not severely impacted by Harvey or Irma. The extent of the damage will depend, of course, on the precise path and whether the storm intensifies beyond a Category 1 storm,” said AccuWeather founder Joel Myers. “The most likely place for it to hit is the Florida Panhandle.”

The report from AccuWeather also said the storm could bring much-needed rain to the interior eastern U.S., parts of which have been experiencing drought conditions.

Meanwhile, two U.S. territories, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, are still recovering from Hurricane Maria, which ran through the Caribbean last month. Some Puerto Ricans are still struggling to gain access to food, water and gas and power may not be returned to some parts of the island for months. President Trump visited Puerto Rico to meet with local officials and people impacted by the storm on Tuesday. Officials raised the death toll tied to Maria to 34 on Tuesday.