Too early to tell if the storm will affect area
While he said it's too early to predict how Tropical Storm Fred may impact the area, Escambia County (Ala,) Emergency Management Director David Adams said people need to keep an eye on the storm.
The storm changed from a tropical depression to Tropical Storm Fred Tuesday night. Adams said it's likely to lose strength when is crosses the Dominican Republic and other islands in the Caribbean and drop back to a tropical depression.
However, he said once it reaches the Gulf of Mexico it will likely intensify.
"It's way too early to say how it may affect us," Adams said.
Adams said forecasts are all over the map at this point with the possibility of landfall in the United States currently stretching from Tampa to west of the Mississippi coast.
"The average of those two put it into the Florida panhandle," Adams said.
Adams said as the weekend approaches, people should get a better picture of where the storm is heading.
"People need to keep up with the storm," he said. "They need to be prepared in the event it turns this way."
Adams also said people need to remember Claudette.
"Just because it's not a major hurricane, it doesn't mean there won't be significant damage in some areas. For many, Claudette was nothing more than a rain event, but the tornadoes that spun off caused significant damage in our area."
