Two tropical disturbances are expected to bring more severe weather to Florida, just weeks after Hurricane Ian left a path of devastation through the state, CNN reports.
The system is currently moving over the southwestern Atlantic and has led to a flood watch in the area set through Monday (November 7) afternoon.
The tropical disturbance has already brought more than 5 inches of rain to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands over the weekend, with an additional 1 to 2 inches expected for Sunday (November 6) evening before moving toward Florida and the southeast Atlantic coast, according to the National Weather Service office in San Juan.
“Even though drier air is expected to move in (later on Sunday), the soils are very saturated and the rivers are still running higher than normal,” the agency said via CNN. “Therefore, any significant rainfall could quickly cause urban and river flooding.”
The system is expected to strengthen as it moves west of the Bahamas on Monday (November 7), while a high-pressure system is expected to make simultaneously its way through the eastern United States.
“This building high pressure will have the tendency to send the area of low pressure westward towards the Florida peninsula, although exactly what this system will look like is still not well understood,” the National Weather Service in Miami said early Sunday via CNN.
Hurricane Ian made landfall on September 28 near Cayo Costa as a Category 4 hurricane with winds reaching up to 150 MPH, making it one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in Florida, according to NBC News forecasters.
At least 127 people in Florida died in relation to Hurricane Ian, according to ABC News, making it the deadliest storm to hit the state since 1935.
Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm on September 29 before strengthening back into a hurricane prior to making landfall in South Carolina on September 30.
President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Florida after Ian made landfall on September 28 and ordered federal aid to help in state and local recovery efforts in areas directly affected, the White House confirmed in a statement obtained by NBC News.