Subtropical depression Alberto: Latest updates

Alberto is the first named storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season. It formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday. 

At its height, Alberto, blasted sustained winds of 105km an hour. “It’s slowly weakening, and it’s not regaining any strength,” David Roth, of the National Hurricane Center, (NHC) told Reuters news agency. 

However, the NHC warned that Alberto will still deliver heavy, potentially damaging rains to the US, with as much as 30cm in some areas in north Florida and Alabama. 

Anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer died when a tree felled by Alberto fell on their van on Monday. They were covering the storm in the state of North Carolina. 

Below all the latest updates: 

Thursday 31

• Alberto has become a post-tropical cyclone as it attempts to exit northeastern lower Michigan and heavy rainfall threat is fading near its centre, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory.

• The system is located about 20 miles (30 km) west-southwest of Alpena, Michigan with maximum sustained winds of 30 miles per hour (45 km/h), the weather forecaster said.

• “Flash flood watches remain in effect for the western Carolinas, northwest Virginia, and far eastern West Virginia,” the NHC added.

Wednesday 30

• Two people were killed after floods triggered a landslide in North Carolina. 
  

• Rescue workers found two bodies after being alerted late Wednesday that the landslide had destroyed a home in Boone, North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, said Jeff Virginia, spokesman for Watauga County Emergency Management.
  

• The system is located about 30km west-southwest of Alpena, Michigan with maximum sustained winds of 45 km/h, the weather forecaster said.

Tuesday, May 29

• Flooding in central Cuba caused by torrential rainfall in the wake of the Subtropical Storm Alberto killed four people and prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands, Cuban state-run media said late on Tuesday.

• The storm arrived at Orange Beach, Alabama. Maximum sustained winds are near 45km/h.

• Alabama’s largest electrical utility says about 20,000 homes and businesses are without power as Alberto moves through the state.

• Weakening is forecast over the next 48 hours. It is expected to produce 6-15cm of rain from Alabama northward into the southern Great Lakes and from north Florida into the southern Appalachians through Thursday.

• A tornado or two may occur on Tuesday from southern Kentucky to parts of Georgia, the NHC reported. 

• At 6:00 GMT, Alberto was about 105km south-southwest of Huntsville, Alabama.

• Forecasters have downgraded Alberto to a subtropical depression but say a flood threat persists as it continues to dump heavy rains. 

Weather Prediction Center for subtropical depression Alberto [WPC QPF]

Monday, May 28

• Subtropical Storm Alberto weakened as it made landfall on the Florida Panhandle on Monday, a day after flooding from another storm tore through an historic Maryland town.

• Forecasters said Alberto could bring dangerous high water to southern coastal states when it douses an area from Mississippi to western Georgia with up to 30cm of rain and possible tornadoes.

BREAKING: Subtropical Storm #Alberto makes landfall near Laguna Beach, FL with winds of 45 mph and a pressure of 994 mb. pic.twitter.com/f9TmSDnjPb

— Hurricane Tracker App (@hurrtrackerapp) May 28, 2018

Sunday, May 27 

• More than 5,000 people were evacuated in Cuba over the subtropical storm. 

• 3,000 of the evacuees were in the central province of Sancti Spiritus, according to the EFE news agency, and about 2,000 people were reportedly evacuated in the province of Villa Clara. 

A man cycles down a flooded road as Subtropical Storm Alberto passes by the west coast of Cuba, in Bahia Honda [File: Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters] 

Saturday, May 26

• The US states of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi declared a state of emergency before the first named storm of the hurricane season.

• On Saturday evening, the storm was about 153km north of the western tip of Cuba and 440km southwest of the Dry Tortugas – almost 113km west of Key West, Florida – according to the NHC.

Friday, May 25 

• Subtropical Storm Alberto was roiling parts of coastal Mexico and Cuba. Both countries issued tropical storm watches.

• At 06:00 GMT, Alberto was located about 90km south of Cozumel, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 65km/h.

• Multiple warnings were issued across the US Gulf Coast in preparation for Alberto’s arrival. The first advisories were issued at 21:00 GMT. 

An empty beach in Cancun, a popular tourist in southern Mexico, as Alberto approaches on May 25 [Israel Leal/Reuters]